


Magic in the Desert Sands

by Reflections



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood, Demon Jesse McCree, M/M, Magic Hanzo Shimada, Mentions of Death, Near Death Experiences, Noodle Dragons, Time Skips, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 07:59:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15747576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reflections/pseuds/Reflections
Summary: Hanzo has been searching for his brother Genji for two years after his brother suddenly dropped all contact. Just about as he is going to run into a dead end, he runs across Jesse McCree. Jesse offers to help Hanzo find his brother. Hanzo isn’t sure whether he should accept the offer or not, but he may not have a choice.Written for the 2018 McHanzo Reverse Big Bang





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my submission for the 2018 Reverse Big Bang where I got to write a fic for BBee-can's amazing artwork (seriously check them out they are fantastic). Seriously check out the art, its fantastic <3
> 
> https://bbee-can.tumblr.com/post/177213465164/title-magic-in-the-desert-sand-rating-m-tags
> 
> https://twitter.com/S0lkatt/status/1074739004325748737
> 
> I seem to lack the ability most fic writers have, to have some sort of brevity... i have no such skill. 
> 
> Enjoy~

The Egyptian heat was unforgiving, the sun swayed high over The Temple of Anubis and the surrounding town. Hanzo was sure he was getting sunburnt, but he felt like he had no choice but to continue to look for answers. He kept his thick, dark hair tied up in a high ponytail, and had The search for answers on where his brother had disappeared two short year ago. 

He had disappeared almost four years ago in search of magic and learning other types of magic and spells that their family wasn’t teaching him. The disagreements of ethics between Genji and their father could have been to blame, but part of it was probably Genji’s own adventurous soul. He had promised to keep tabs up and send Hanzo letters or messages once in a while, and he did so for two years, but the last letter he sent left Hanzo waiting. A lot had changed in those nine months he waited for that letter. 

Hanzo felt trapped, helping the citizens as one of the two magic businesses in Hanamura, and keeping the family business up. He realized half a year without hearing from his brother that he felt trapped, with all of the pressures of the family business put on him, and no room to do what he wanted. It was when the family business was his alone nine months later that he decided to go search for Genji. He knew it would be hard to do this without his brother. He could still do it alone, but he still wanted to find his brother to check and make sure he was alright before offering a place back with the family business. Now that their parents were both dead. Genji never did attend their father’s funeral. 

He had been back to Hanamura once in the past 15 months, and it was during a time that was like a crisis for Hanamura, a magical disease went through the town, and he was lucky enough to only minorly suffer. The disease was taken care of in a month, but replacing what the disease took of his legs took two months. Enchanting new prosthetic into a working limbs was hard work, and he was lucky enough to have most, if not all the supplies he needed on him. People felt bad for him to lose his legs at such a young age, but that wasn’t the pressing issue, he needed to find Genji. It distracted him from mourning his own lost legs.

“Good Afternoon,” he was greeted as he walked into a small inn, family owned. The Inn fit the landscape of the rest of the village, earthen colors and bright colored tapestries, as well as arched doorways. The desk was a darker wood, obviously taken care of well in the intense dessert heat. A woman and her daughter were standing behind the counter, the younger of the two talking with another male standing at the counter. 

“Good Afternoon,” he greeted back in Arabic, glad he renewed the global conversationalist hearing and vocal spells. It helped him travel with ease and he was able to speak and hear the language that he was exposed to around him, though he didn’t use the spell all the time. “Is there any vacancies for this evening?” The older woman smiled, the crows feet at the corner of her exposed eye showing as he looked at the small book behind the desk.

He took this opportunity to step to the other side of the counter, not to get in the way of the other two conversing. 

“Its been too long since you came and visited, two years now.” The girl commented with an accusatory finger pointed at him. “You worried mom there for a while.”

“That wasn’t my aim ‘reeha, I was just busy is all. Not everyone likes people like me around.” The man said and patted the girl’s hand. That comment gave away what he was to Hanzo very easily, but that was probably because he was versed thoroughly in the arts of the supernatural and magic. Supernatural creatures were no longer shunned in most places, but that didn’t stop different hunters from mindlessly trying to kill them. Hanzo forced himself to stop eavesdropping on their conversation and focused on the elder woman checking him in. 

“We do have two rooms open for the evening, though they won’t be cleaned and available for you to get in until around three in the afternoon.” She replied and looked up at him, the smile not falling from her face. 

“That is fine, there is a lot to look at around, I can easily keep myself occupied till then.” He replied, being just as friendly to the woman as she was him. 

“There is a lot of history around town, and lots of wares people sell. You may find something you may need in your journey.” The older woman agreed and ducked behind the desk and grabbed a paper for Hanzo to fill out along with a pen. “You seem very young to be wandering around by yourself, if you don’t mind me asking, what brings you to our small desert town?” Hanzo looked up from the paper and shrugged. 

“I am old enough to take care of myself, appearances can be deceiving, and I was going to wait but in the past few months to a year have you possibly seen a younger man walk in, green hair, or black, orange scarf, goes by the name Genji Shimada?”

“Brother or something?” The man asked, and Hanzo looked over. He got a good look at the stranger that stood at his side. The dragons rolled in anticipation for something, but he ignored it in favor of looking at him. The stranger was taller than him, dark brown hair that almost hid the ears on his head, otherwise he seemed mostly human. Probably shifted enough to make himself look human enough to not rouse susptions. He’d probably look full human the moment he’d walk outside the inn. That would be the smartest move unless he is looking for a challenge from someone. 

“Yes, he has been missing for over a year now, and I want to find him and make sure he is alright.” Hanzo said in a matter of fact tone, and the man nodded, adjusting the brim of his hat so he could see the other’s eyes better. A bright amber being smothered by a light brown, it almost seemed impossible to see blue in there as well. Goosebumps rose on his arms but he brushed it off and looked back to the elder woman. 

“Genji Shimada… the last name seems to ring a bell. I can check in the past registry if you are willing to wait a bit?” The woman asked and Hanzo nodded. 

“I’m in no rush, I can fill out the paper as you look,” he offered and set the pen on the paper. 

“Sure, that would be fantastic,”

“thank you.” He said and bowed his head at her. 

“Always,” she replied with a smile and looked at her daughter before back at Hanzo “You aren’t causing any trouble little witch, so I have no reason not to help you. My name is Ana, and my daughter here is Fareeha.” She said and ran a hand through her daughter’s short chin length hair. 

“Hanzo Shimada, its nice to meet you both,” he introduced himself and watched Ana disappear into what he assumed was an office door before he looked back down at the paper and filled out the information they needed. He checked down how he would be paying before his process got interrupted. 

“A witch, that is so cool,” the young girl, Fareeha, spoke up, dragging a stool over and stood where her mother once was. “Can you do magic, or just potions and stuff?” Hanzo glanced up and smiled at her. 

“Would you believe me if i said I could do both?” He asked and started to read the policies of the hotel. Her eyes went wide and she leaned forward. 

“Really? That’s a lot to know my mom says.” She commented and Hanzo nodded. 

“It is, i have a lot of books back home, and i was taught from when I was your age to know all of this.” He replied and looked up at her. 

“Not many people would be willing to admit such a thing in a time like this where everyone is under fire.” The supernatural male who had yet to introduced himself spoke up and Hanzo’s gaze went over to him. 

“Well it is my philosophy that i can’t help people if they don’t know what I am. I can protect myself if people want to try stopping what I do the hard way.” Hanzo had yet to meet someone he couldn’t beat in protecting himself. He had a lot in his kit to protect himself, and it would take a strong being to go against him to make him use it thoroughly.

“Joel, you don’t need to interrogate him, I could only tell because he had the mark of a spell on his throat.” Ana said and walked beside her daughter and place a piece of paper on the counter and a familiar family ring and an unfamiliar white scarf. “You’re in luck, he was here half a year ago, left those behind. I was going to donate them at the end of the year if no one came around to claim them.”

Hanzo looked at the paper his brother signed, the handwriting looked very familiar as did the weight of the ring and the faint residual energy that radiated off the ring. “Do you mind if I keep his stuff?” He asked taking the scarf and ring off the paper and passing it back to Ana. 

“I can’t do anything with them, if it helps you in your search to find your brother then I’m glad to give them to you.” Ana replied and then touched a scarf. “There is a blood stain on it though, so I don’t know what he was up to, but our room was spotless. We couldn’t question him though, the money for the night was paid ahead of time, and he was gone before sunrise.” 

“Sounds like Genji,” Hanzo sighed and wrapped the scarf around the ring, shrugging his backpack off, unzipping his bag, and putting them in. “I think i’m done with the form,” he commented and set the pen down and turned it towards the woman. 

“It looks like you filled everything out correctly,” she dragged out the last word as her gaze went to the bottom of the page. “Yes, all except how many days you will be staying,” Ana’s dark eyes met Hanzo’s and he glanced down at the paper. 

“I am sorry, I should be staying for about three days, I’ve been traveling a while and need a small rest.” He replied and she nodded and filled it in for him. 

“Can I expect to see you at three then Hanzo Shimada?”

“You can count on it,” he agreed and shrugged his backpack back onto his back. 

“I should get going too, stock up for the next leg of travel.” Joel spoke up to Ana and she nodded and walked around the counter. Assessing the man, a name like While the man was looking away and the kind woman had his attention he took that time to look at the man more in depth to try and figure what he was. Joel didn’t really fit him, the boots, the hat, the shirt. Hanzo shouldn’t judge that though, people would name their kids whatever they wanted.

His ears did have the typical shape of an animal he couldn’t help but wonder what the more human ear looked like his hair was very thick and that was not out of the ordinary, his fingers didn’t seem aligned in a typical way but not all were-creatures were like that, and as they went in for the hug. It was only a glance, but he swore he didn’t see the familiar dark scars on the palm that most werewolves have. Who was this Joel trying to fool? Though he didn’t know for sure what he was, so he couldn’t come to such a rash conclusion without solid evidence. 

“The temple is always pretty this time of day, if you don’t want to deal with people hounding you at the market that’s the best place go.” Fareeha chirped and caught Hanzo off guard, but captured his attention. 

“Can you read minds? I was just going to ask for a quiet place to sit and look around, maybe read.” He asked and she grinned up at him. 

“No but you seem like you need some quiet, you aren’t super loud and obnoxious.” 

“You have taught her how to read people well Ana,” Hanzo complimented and watched her smoothly sweep behind the counter. “She’s spot on, a quiet spot is what i prefer most, nor do I take well to being pestered. Though having a younger brother may have a part in why I don’t take it well.”

She chuckled and nodded, “younger siblings can be annoying, but even through that you can’t help but love them.”

“I suppose that and my incessant worry over mine is why i’m going out across the world looking for him, but it does also give me an excuse to see sights one doesn’t see in Japan.” 

“Making the best out of it, even if the situation may not seem all that bright.” Ana replied and he nodded. He shrugged his backpack again and gave a small wave, alibet awkwardly before he walked out of the inn and in the direction the signs said the temple was. There was the thick scent of cigar smoke that seemed to make the air just the slightest big hotter. It seemed that Joel had the same idea, strolling out of the Inn as Hanzo read the street signs. Upon the man’s going to the opposite side the sign to seek directions as well, he was correct with the fact that he hid his animal ears in public. The human ears had a bump of extra cartilage where the tip of the ear would form, so by all means he should be a werewolf. 

“I hope you find your brother,” he spoke up, catching Hanzo off guard. He nodded and peeked around the sign at the other. 

“I hope so too, I just want to make sure he’s safe, alive. You don’t know what crazy hunter will do when they catch sight of something they may not like.” Hanzo admitted and saw where the arrow pointing to the temple was. 

“Do you mind if I pull you aside for a bit? I just need some advice for a friend of mine. I can pay you for it, but its something I’ve been looking to help ‘em with.” The request was surprising, he didn’t think that the other would be so straightforward in the request, but there were much worse things to be surprised about. 

“I don’t need to get paid for a consultation, I only want payment if I provide a product or service. This is not a service but advice.” Hanzo replied confidently and glanced back in the direction of the temple and took into account his surroundings. 

“That is kind of you, most people of your trade take advantage of every penny they can get. I know a place we can sit and talk, get out of the sun too.” 

“I always hated to be such a person, a wizard who cheats their people is the last thing a town needs, and somewhere out of the sun would be nice, leave the way.” Upon the request the man grinned and tipped his hat, putting a cigar back into his mouth. So Joel was the one who lit up, it didn’t matter to him if the other killed his lungs, but he would say something if he tried to carry it indoors. 

Their walk wasn’t that long and where they were going was in the direction of the temple, just on the cusp of the temple grounds. Joel extinguished his cigar gently and pocketed it for obvious use later. The place a small restaurant, the only light let into the restaurant was natural, coming through some uncovered windows and the open doorway. 

A young peppy boy came up and had a few menus in hand. “Can we get a booth for two? Preferably in the shade, its quite hot out today.” This must have been routine for Joel, because no words came from the young man’s lips, but it would have probably been a question on if they wanted to be seated. The lively boy was happy to oblige and sat them in the colder corner of the restaurant, two menus were sat in front of them. 

“I will be back in just a moment with your orders,” it was pretty slow, but he bet that it was a big dining spot for tourists, and priced decently enough for people to eat out once in a while. Hanzo’s eyes scoured over the menu before he decided he’d just settle on something to drink, he wasn’t quite hungry at the moment. He’d probably just have some water as they’d discuss the best plan of action for Joel’s friend. 

“This place is such a nice and quiet atmosphere, a good place to get away from the buzz.” Joel commented and leaned back in his seat, leaving the menu where it was and he smiled at Hanzo in a very relaxed manner. 

“I have never been here before, but this seems like a pretty quiet town in general, I doubt a lot of trouble happens. This seems like it would be a haven for people of supernatural origin.” A temple nearby and just a stop on the way to a bigger town, overall inconspicuous and perfect. The man across from him tapped a finger to his nose. 

“Exactly, I was hoping to run into someone like you around here-” he cut himself off as the waiter came back. They both ordered what they wanted, Joel already getting into the liquor, three shots, and he was evidently staying away from such drinks till he was in private later. 

The boy was quick though, and before the conversation could restart their drinks were set in front of him them and they were left to chat. 

“So what kind of situation is your friend in?” Hanzo got straight to business and the other seemed to be at his same speed. 

“So she’s amazing at getting information, but she has this physical problem that seems to get worse certain seasons of the year, it stays on her body all year, but gets worse in the northern hemisphere winter months. Its not a mental curse or nothing, just a physical one, her limbs are going a different color, and her fingers are starting to go invisible. She’s getting real desperate.” 

Those symptoms were rare, but something he had been taught before. He watched his mother take care of something similar before on a trip to Tokyo. He sipped his water and hummed. 

“Its a combination of things, obviously she can probably astral project as a way to get her information, and if she is around too much good energy or bad energy at once it can affect her spiritual state.” Hanzo’s fingers drummed silently on the table as he stared at the ripples it made in his cup before looking back up at Joel. Now that he was cooled off in the shade a wave of cold went down his spine, a familiar feeling that had the dragons roiling in warning. 

He continued to elaborate. “I wouldn’t say that’s the source, but its just that she is doing it too often. She is far enough gone that she will need to find something to anchor her body to the physical realm before it disappears on her.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair in thought. The dragons roiled earlier in the inn, was it about him?

“Right now she should be able to use her fingers, but they won’t look like they are there. Her physical body fuels her ability to spiritually use her fingers as if they were real. Like how ghosts need energy to move things or speak. As for anchoring it, it would have to be to another person, omnic, AI, or strong object of the like.” He concluded confidently. 

“How would she go about doing that?” The man had a straight face in sight of this news, he took a shot of his whiskey. 

“Most people who do potions and spells should be able to help her, but with the advanced state it would be implants, potions, and runes. It would be at least three sessions, but make sure you get to the right person or they’ll rip you off.” He took a sip of his drink and their eyes for a met, those wild eyes meeting his, and all the hairs felt like they were standing on end. “Can I ask you a question, now that I’ve answered yours?” Hanzo asked before Joel could get another comment out. A surprised look crossed his face momentarily before it was covered by a nod and small smirk. 

“Absolutely sweet pea, ask away.” It couldn’t have been as easy as he was trying to portray it to be. 

“I hope you are honest with your friends, Ana and Fareeha included, because if you’re passing yourself off as a werewolf you are not doing them any good, nor yourself.” The surprise that passed the man’s face was all he needed as confirmation. He was no werewolf, but a demon. 

“I don’t have the slightest idea what nonsense you are spewing darling.” He replied smoothly and took another shot of whiskey. 

“You don’t have the pentagram on your hands, a small and simple mistake really, you would have really convinced me if either your fingers were the correct heights, or you had those five dots on your hand. Though now that I’ve mentioned it, you can easily change your glamor to be the most convincing werewolf.” It didn’t change the fact that Hanzo knew about him. 

“I didn’t take you for a hunter,” a sly grin came onto the demon’s face, he had gotten over the shock that his secret was out, but they had both been speaking quiet enough to keep the information between them. “Going to give the information to a hunter so they can kill me for a bounty?” The question was a crude sneer and Hanzo’s frown deepened. It didn’t help that with the sneer he could feel the demonic energy coming off the man, demon, and one who was decently strong. 

“That is not how i conduct business, as long as you don’t kill me I do nothing to harm you.” Hanzo replied crisply and pushed his glass aside. “So what do you really want out of me, I assume there is something else on your mind that you didn’t dare say under your disguise.”

“Sharp as a tack,” Joel hummed to himself “yes there is a bit more that I want to ask.” Those eyes looked up at him and shone with a bright amber undertone. 

“I want to strike up a deal with you darling,” He started and twirled the last shot glass around between his fingers. “ I know for a fact that ring and scarf is your last lead before the trail on your brother goes cold, and if we strike up some sort of deal I can use my ways and track him down from that bit of six month old blood on his scarf.” Hanzo knew he shouldn’t have been considering such tempting words and for a moment he was, but only for a moment. 

“Absolutely not, I will not fall for your lies and trickery. In making a deal with you the price I will have to pay is something steep for finding him like you own my soul. I have my own ways of utilizing what i was given to find him.”

“Those ways don’t track his every move Hanzo Shimada,” the way his name rolled off his tongue made Hanzo hyper aware that the demon had his name, he wasn’t being careful. How foolish of him. “With my help I’d get you to your brother like a bloodhound to a crook.”

“I have told once and I will tell you again demon, no, I will not need your help. I don’t know what I have that you may want, but I will not forfeit it for something I can do just as good.” A bold faced lie, but he wouldn’t admit it.

The demon went silent, the shot stopped spinning the shot around in his hand and he was quick to down it. There was tense silence and Hanzo had the mind to leave. He dug in his pocket and was quick to slap a bill on the table enough to cover both of them, and a tip for the waiter. 

Hanzo started to get up when Joel leaned forward and got right in his face. His nerves sparked alive and he froze where he was as their face met inches away. Cold seemed to over power the desert heat of the afternoon, almost like the cold of death.

“Don’t be like that darling, it’d be real gentlemanly of you if you sat back down, but its already real kind of you to pay for me.” Those sultry words were tempting, digging deep into his mind, trying to talk him into something he vehemently didn’t want to do. A few tense moments of Hanzo not moving and glaring a hand went out to grab something and he backed away instinctually, nearly knocking over his chair in the process. He twisted to grab the chair with his right hand to stop it from toppling over, his left arm was grabbed, possibly to prevent him from falling, but his spirits lashed out defensively with no order An arch blue electricity off his hand and made the demon recoil, his hand white hot as the electricity sparked. 

The pain didn’t phase Joel as he set his hand back on the wood table and sat down, a grin on his face that Hanzo so desperately wanted to wipe off his face. “What a cute party trick,” the demon said, obviously trying to get him to react, but he wouldn’t give him such satisfaction. The dragons were no party trick and he wasn’t going to show it for no reason. “Are you done making a scene? You’re going to scare off the staff.” Those comments held less humor and the witch’s gaze went from the demon to the staff. Hanzo stiffened slightly as he saw the curious and weary look of the wait staff and chefs, a familiar look that had him clenching his jaw in anger. 

“Goodbye,” Hanzo said crisply and pushed in his chair and slung his bag back over his shoulder. The demon didn't move from his spot, and sat back down behind the table seeing he couldn't convince the other to stay. Before walking out of the restaurant, he apologized and wished the staff a good day. He walked out of the restaurant, turning to head towards the temple but stopped short of running into a very familiar figure, Joel. Hanzo’s heart caught in his throat from the surprise as he looked up at the man with a frown etched into his features. 

The demon grinned and took out his cigar again. Hanzo side stepped to walk away from him, but Joel didn’t seem intent on letting him go just yet. Even in the afternoon heat, Hanzo felt as if he had stepped into the freezer, and just the raw energy coming off the other set Hanzo on edge. 

“I'll be in town for three days, you know where I'll be if you decide to take me up on my offer." Hanzo wish he didn’t, but he didn’t acknowledge the demon as he took another side step, not being stopped this time. He made his way deeper into holy ground and towards the temple of Anubis.


	2. Chapter 2

The temple was gorgeous with the old architecture, columns, and statues that decorated it along with the history, a few stands with plaques by areas of particular interest. Hanzo would admit to himself that the architecture was on his mind, second to Genji. The blood on the scarf could have been a simple mistake, Genji has made them before, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind convincing him otherwise. He would conviene with a few of his magical books and his dragons tonight in the hotel room, but there was nothing he could do right now in this exact moment. 

The demon got him all riled up, trying to worm his way into his personal business. Hanzo didn’t doubt for a moment that the demon did have ways to track his brother from the barest contact, but Genji wouldn’t want him to sacrifice his soul for it. It would be Hanzo’s luck finding his brother perfectly fine, thriving probably, and he’d have to sacrifice his soul for being too worried for his brother. The whole thing was too risky. 

The damning thing was, is that Hanzo wasn’t 100% positive he could find something that could track his brother down like what the demon may have. That thought absolutely infuriated him and Joel was right when he said that this was his last lead, because it truly was. The path has been a tightrope act since leaving Japan over a year ago, and the path had been getting so warm up until Italy and Greece where it went dead cold. He had spent a month chasing the end of a rope that was almost invisible. He only knew his way to Egypt from this middle aged woman who thought he was his brother. 

Hanzo forced himself to ignore his nagging worry for the first time in a long time in favor of having a bit of fun. 

Three in the afternoon came fast when he was so absorbed in his thoughts, and he checked into the hotel half past three, getting caught into a conversation with an elderly woman and her granddaughter running a stand together. They were selling woven and beaded items and the grandmother told stories of the temple and essentially what had happened in the past 60 or so years in the area. It felt like a history lesson interjected by here granddaughter contradicting what she said about certain parts of each story with phrases like, “I thought he was younger than you grandma,” or correcting the years she’d say. A lot of similar things happened in Hanamura, it was a touch of home somewhere far from it. 

“You’re back,” Fareeha spoke up from behind the counter, her head peeking barely over the top, her eyes glittering as she ducked back down. 

“I am,” he agreed with a smile and walked up to the counter. “I’m just checking in, is your mother around?” Fareeha let out a hum from behind the counter before she dragged something across the floor, a stool probably, and stood back into view. 

“She’s in the office, I can get her if you want me to.” He said and Hanzo smiled. “That would be awesome if you got your mother for me, I just want to drop off my bag in the room, and maybe relax.”

The girl seemed to weigh his words before she grinned at him. “Okay,” she beamed happily, seemingly satisfied with his answer. She got down from the stool and walked towards the door and didn’t knock but just walked inside. 

Hanzo looked around the small lobby, two chairs with a coffee table between them, an a small rug on the stone floor with muted colors that brought the room together. 

“Fareeha tells me you’re checking in.” Ana grabbed his attention and he nodded. 

“I figured i could pay my three nights in advance as well.” He replied and grabbed the debit card from his pocket and handed it over to her. 

“Of course, I appreciate that you do it earlier than last minute. Some people think they can pull a fast one on me.” She hummed and swiped the card in her system, waited and pressed a few buttons. 

“They could maybe get away with pulling a fast one, if the town was way bigger than it is now, and that is still a maybe.”

“Some city people don’t realize that,” Ana agreed and gave him his card back. “Do you want the receipt?” The question was asked as the room key was set down on the counter, an actual key was rare nowadays in a hotel. 

“Yes please,” he said and pocketed his card, the receipt soon followed it.

“If you have any problems don’t be afraid to come up to the desk or call the office.” Ana offered and put the card machine where it was previously. 

“Thank you,” Hanzo said, “that is really kind of you.” It was truly really nice hospitality. 

“It is no problem, just take it easy, you look tired.” Ana replied and looked over at her daughter. “I think its time we got started making lunch, don’t you think?” Fareeha nodded eagerly and Hanzo smiled softly. 

“Have a good day Ana, Fareeha,” he said before he grabbed the key and keychain, reading the metal tag to see what room he’d be in, room 5. He walked and saw the left was 9 through 18, and the right side was 8 through 1, and walked down that hall. He came upon the solid wood door of room 5 and he put the key in the lock and twisted. The lock didn’t budge so Hanzo tried again assuming the lock was just old, and with a bit more force it unlocked with a heavy click. 

There was a familiar excited buzz that was just under his skin as he opened the door, no doubt the dragons wanted to explore. The room was small, natural light filtering in through a closed window that faced out towards the center courtyard. He flicked on the room lights and walked over to the window and closed the curtains. Once those curtains were closed he put his bag on the bed, and his tattoo glowed faintly under the clothes before the dragons slithered and climbed down his body. They were in their smaller forms, not trying to cause a problem, and their small form was the best for exploration. 

There was a small desk underneath the window, and Hanzo dug in his bag before retrieving an old leather bound book. The pages were yellow and the book itself was tied shut. He moved over to the desk and set the book down, he pulled out the chair and immediately got to work trying to find a particular spell. The spell seemed to tickle the back of his mind, Hanzo knew it existed, but it could be in one of dozens of books his family had collected through hundreds of years. Hanzo decided to carry this book around in particular because it seemed to touch on everything the slightest. 

The index didn’t tell him much, so he’d have to use his familiarity with his book to see if he could find the spell he was looking for. It was easy to flip to the section of identifying spells, the narrow section was easy to flip through, it took about five minutes, but the spell wasn’t in there. The next section was ritual-like spells and curses, and that was a thicker section of the book, and after nearly an hour of careful scanning the spell wasn’t there either, and by this time he felt a weight in his lap and he looked down and saw one of the dragons curled up in his lap. He saw that the dragon was snoozing,Momo, their partner in crime probably laying on the bed staring at him. Hanzo glanced over his shoulder at the bed and it confirmed that Maron was in fact staring at him. Maron never trusted him to rest properly and as the elder of the two dragons made sure to keep an eye on him, especially after he lost his legs. 

“Rest Maron, I’ll be going through the whole book, and I’ll wake you up if I need anything.” He leaned back in the chair and offered a hand to the dragon, who stared at him incredulously before he turned away and made his way to the head of the bed. He crawled on his belly before burrowing underneath the plush pillow and curled up. Rolling his eyes, Hanzo went back to the book, flipping to the front cover before settling himself in for a long night of looking through the book. It was fifteen minutes to five pm, Hanzo noted as he started. 

Potions, simple spells, travelling sectioned off into things like potions, spells, runes, and summoning circle types. The books contents continued on and went to curses, health potions, curse cures, travel, rituals, runes, magic wards, exorcisms, enchantments, and what material works best with what enchantments. Running through the book the first time took almost five hours, and he could feel a pit forming in his chest as he searched again. Momo stirred in his lap, adjusting how they were lying before falling back asleep. 

He was halfway through the book, his eyes glued to the page, and he almost managed to block out a familiar angry rumble. Hanzo didn’t have enough time to look before there was a firm grip on the back of his clothes and a force dragging him out of his chair. Momo was no longer in his lap as he tipped back and fell out of the chair, the chair clattering to the floor with a loud crack. Hanzo’s head hit the area rug on the floor, his shoulder blades taking most of the impact. 

“That is enough, you will run yourself ragged if you mull over that book any longer.” A deep rumble and Hanzo looked over to see a larger Maron looming over him from where he was on the bed, Momo had grown size too and was sitting near the chair, carefully setting it upright. 

“I am so sure that the spell is in the book though,” Hanzo snips angrily and rubs the back of his head as he sits up. 

“You have a few days to look, don’t crash yourself so early,” Momo replied and once the chair was upright went onto the bed with their partner. “It will be there in the morning, you’re letting that demon get under your skin.”

“Take a shower, drink some water, and rest.” Maron agreed and rested his head on his paws. Hanzo was hesitant to take their advice, glancing back at the book before sighing in defeat. 

“Maybe this isn’t worth searching for,” Hanzo muttered to himself and took his hair from its high ponytail and walked to the bathroom sullenly. He regretted those words the moment they came from his lips, but at this point he had no energy to correct himself. His younger brother would always be worth looking for, he had said it enough that he hoped the dragons would know as much. In the bathroom he shed the clothes he was currently wearing and kicked them to a lonely corner in the bathroom. After that he set the water to a state that would still be warm, but closer to neutral. 

The colder water shocked Hanzo and rose goosebumps on his arms, but after a moment it was very relaxing. After a day in the desert heat, it was the exact thing he needed. This was the first shower he had since leaving Italy that wasn’t simply a dip in a river or accidentally falling into the ocean. He took the time with the provided toiletries and scrubbed down his body with a lot of care. The moment he started to think possibly about making a contract with the demon, he washed his hair and got out of the shower. Hanzo had one last resource before he’d even consider the demon’s request. 

Hanzo dried himself off and wrapped a towel around his waist before emerging from the bathroom, both dragons hadn’t moved from their spots on the bed. Hanzo walked over and plucked his bag from between the two long bodies. He moved it over to an edge of a bed that they hadn’t claimed, and grabbed underwear and his sleepwear (an old pair of gym shorts and a tank top). He retreated back into the bathroom to change and was quick about it, yet he decided to comb out his hair later despite the fact he would hate himself for it later.

He paused and looked at himself in the mirror before he pulled on his shirt, cheeks were sunburnt, and he was a bit more tan than previously. He ignored how tired he looked, and pulled on the shirt. He emerged from the bathroom and finally spoke up. 

“I want to conveign with you, its been a while, and i think now is the best time to do it.” He replied and bent down, deciding to at least run a brush through some of his hair. 

“That will keep you unconscious for at least a day, are you sure you want to do this?” Momo voiced, it had been half a year since he had done this last, and with good reason. The more frequently he did this, subject himself to the spirit world, the longer it would take for his spirit to be guided back into his body, and therefore it would take longer for him to wake up. 

“I am sure, I think this will help us get on the same page as to where our next objective lies.” He would never admit that he feels a bit lost, but the dragons had known him for a long time. 

“Fine,” they both agreed and with a faint light they both disappeared in a blue mist. Hanzo sighed, his limbs heavy as he pulled the blankets back and laid down. He shifted around and got comfortable, resting his hands on his stomach, and controlled his breathing. He counted his breathing, in for four, out for eight, and he forced his limbs to relax. He focused on nothing, only counting his breathing, and it with every count it felt like another hour had passed. A heavy weight settled on his chest, sucking the feeling from his limbs so they tingled, and eventually he didn’t feel them at all. 

The bed felt softer by the second, sinking further and further into the plush mattress before he felt himself fall through it. The gush of wind around him, his arms sliding from his torso as he kept his eyes twisted shut. Suddenly something caught him, the wind was merely a breeze as warmth seemed to swath around him. 

“Open your eyes young master,” a familiar deep rumble and he did as ordered. He looked up and saw Maron gently placing him onto the ground, a muddy dark green that seemed to be the bottom of a rainforest that was stripped of its ground foliage. Using their names was dangerous, human names had a lot of power if they got into the wrong hands of certain spirits. 

“Thank you,” he said and looked up at Maron and he saw Momo looping into view as well. He looked around at the old trees around them before he sighed, at a loss of what to do. “A different place yet again, you two definitely get around this realm.” He replied and got a hum of agreement from Momo.

“You are very conflicted young master, tell us what is on your mind, and we will see what we can do to alleviate that confusion.” Momo purred and got closer to Hanzo, nudging him gently, he smiled softly and ran a hand across their flank. 

“Have I ever run across a spell that could track Genji from something off of his physical being like blood? I swear i have.” He murmured and looked from Momo to Maron. 

“There is but the blood is too old. Even if you did get the spell to work, it only works for at most three days before disappearing. You’d run out of blood before finding Nashi or your brother.” A frustrating piece of news to hear and he tsked. 

“You can’t search for Nashi either, their too far away.” They had already talked about it, that was one of the desperate ways they could have found Genji, but he stuck himself thousands of miles away. 

“I can’t sacrifice my soul to that demon though, my brother wouldn’t want me to do such a thing.” Hanzo almost said his brother’s name. 

“The only other option would be using us to scour the spirit world in search of Nashi, and then pinpointing the approximate earth location.” Maron replied and swooped lower to the ground, “but that could keep you stuck in a vegetative state for months, too dangerous without anyone there to care for your body.” 

Very dangerous. 

“If we are having to be forced to use the demon’s help, why don’t you try to make up the contract. Give him something in return, have something to keep him there.” Momo replied and then turned to Maron. “Time is almost up, he should leave. He’s been here long enough.”

“Any longer and he will be asleep for two days and not just one, did this help young master?” Maron asked and nudged Hanzo’s side with his muzzle. 

“It did, thank you for your wisdom,” he said and bowed at both of them before a weight in his feet dragged him through the spiritual ground. 

Hanzo woke up with a start and stared at the tan ceiling. Birds were chirping, and he rolled over in the bed, body heavy as he dug around in the bag for his phone. The battery was drained, so he grabbed the charger and plugged it into the lamp’s outlet, and plugged in his phone. Once his phone woke up he saw the time, 1pm of his last day in the small town. 

Hanzo got up and made the bed before he grabbed the notepad and pen from by the phone. He went over to the window and opened the blinds to the lazy morning sun illuminating the bright sand and green plants with brilliant yellow light. 

Hanzo sat back down, feeling the spirits slip from his tattoo as he got to writing down on the notepad, pushing the spell book aside, his full attention now on the notepad. 

“I see you’re taking the suggestion seriously,” Momo hummed and the small dragon’s body peered at the paper with a tilted head. 

“A wizard can do a lot for someone, even if demons are powerful in their own ways.” He admitted and tapped the pad with his pen. 

“Maybe a way to keep you both alive through the whole thing will prove your seriousness about it.” Momo rumbled and crawled up Hanzo’s arm. 

“Not a bad idea Momo,” Hanzo hummed and glanced over at the spell book. “That may just be do-able.”

-~-~

It was three pm before Hanzo had his plan, was decently dressed. He tucked the sheets of paper into his pocket and packed up his stuff. He tucked the spell book in the back of the bag where it usually was. He ended up cleaning up a bit behind himself to make it easier on Ana. He slung his bag over his shoulder, Maron and Momo went to their hiding place within the tattoo. 

His first stop was the front desk, where he checked out with the apology and paying a fee for staying in the room late. It was very easy up until he asked the debatable question. 

“Do you know where Joel went off to? There is something I forgot to mention to him about his questions that is quite important.” He asked and shouldered his bag farther up his shoulder. Ana hummed and looked at Hanzo before back at the doorway of the inn. 

“He didn’t specify where he went, but if i was to guess it would be the restaurant right by the temple. He always mentions how he likes the whiskey there the best.” She replied and looked at Hanzo. She seemed hesitant to give him that answer though. 

“Thank you again for your hospitality Ana,” he said with a bow before he went to the restaurant. He knew the way after being showed once. It was a little after one in the afternoon, he could hope that it was where Joel was. 

He walked into the door and saw a few people inside sitting at different booths and tables. His scoured around the dim establishment and in the sunlight straight across the room was the man he was looking for. He didn’t wait for someone to sit him down, instead he walked across the room silently. 

“Are ya’ goin’ to electrocute me again?” The demon asked, obviously teasing. Hanzo hummed and sat across from him. 

“As much as it is tempting, no.” He said and pulled the white sheet of paper from his pocket and set it on top of the last shot glass between the two of them. 

“Those are my terms for the contract, but I am willing to be minutely flexible. If those terms are good with you though, then i see no problem in making the contract.” Hanzo said calmly, keeping his expression neutral as he looked at the demon across from him. 

“Glad you could see reason darling, but lets see what you think is reason.” Joel purred and grabbed the paper and the shot, he drank the whiskey before opening the paper. 

The grin on the demon’s face couldn’t get any wider as he flipped open the paper. 

“I am not too wise with some of this magic lingo, but the favors are awful nice, any limit on those?” Joel asked looking up at the wizard. 

Hanzo hummed and thought back, “as long as it is something I can do without sacrificing something like my soul.” He wouldn’t give anything of the sorts to the demon regardless. 

“Linking of our lives, that keeps one of us alive if we get the crap beat out of us, and the link drops once we have contact with your brother physical or vocal. The favors, no souls, a usual but very unusual blood contract,” Joel hummed to himself and drummed his fingers against the table. 

“I can’t do the special stuff, my contracts tend to be the more straightforward stuff. I suppose between us though making the contract will be no problem.” Joel debated and folded the slip back up. 

For a moment they were both silent, and the paper quietly tapped against he wood top. 

“Make it two favors and you have a deal.” Hanzo clenched his jaw before he slowly nodded in agreement. The grin that appeared on the demon’s face was absolute bliss.

“The contract will have a strong magic ward, so we will need to do this outside of town,” Hanzo replied and sat forward in his chair a bit. 

“Naturally, I know a perfect place for it,” Joel commented and offered a hand. Hanzo paused, giving the hand a wary look before he accepted it. “A pleasure striking up a deal Mister Shimada.”


	3. Chapter 3

The two of them left the establishment not soon after discussing and agreeing to the terms of the contract. Joel had paid for his drinks and Hanzo stocked up on what he needed, the demon admitting he wouldn’t need anything for the trip to the next city. They made their way out of town and towards the next larger city a few days travel through the desert. Once out of town, Hanzo had pulled his hat out of his bag and put it on his head, a typical wizard hat that the point curled back, and the obvious wear and tear showed on the old hat. Joel teased him on it, but it kept the sun out of his eyes . 

“Not many people have the gall to come to a demon with the premise of a contract.” Joel commented and looked straight ahead and not at the shorter male walking beside him. 

“Not many people give two favors to a demon either, or link their life energy together to make sure they both live through the ordeal.” Hanzo replied with no heat to his words. 

“I appreciate the effort you put into the thought of having both of us unscathed from the contract, but not every demon would agree to such terms.” It was the plain truth of it, and Hanzo was lucky enough that Joel would agree to such an odd contract. The fact that he did also spiked interest. 

“Speaking of which, why did you agree to my contract? You could have easily told me to get lost.” The question wasn’t answered right away, only the desert filled the silence before Hanzo glanced over at the demon and saw him looking over at him. 

“I can still back out if you want me to,” he offered with a grin and Hanzo rolled his eyes. Instead of answering, he changed the subject. 

“How much farther to the spot we can do the contract?” He just wanted to get it over with, a written contract with magic inlayed into the words, and their names signed in blood. 

“We’re a few miles out of town at this point, I’d say any time you’re ready we can proceed with the contract. In the daylight is best for it.” Hanzo nodded and looked ahead of them, seeing no figures in the distance, he looked behind them and saw that the two of them were alone. 

“While we are alone is the best time, so we should just get this done with.” Hanzo’s skin prickled with anticipation as they slowed down and took a few steps off their path and Hanzo squinted behind Joel to make sure no one was behind them. 

“Now this won’t go about how you may think it will.” Joel started and bent down to draw a small circle between them before working on a bigger more square shape, “I’ve been thinking about how this will work and I figured it out.” He started and finished the square before standing outside of it and quickly and deftly making a swirled mark unfamiliar to Hanzo on the opposite corner of the circle. 

“From what I understand every type of demon does it differently,” Hanzo commented and looked at the perfect shape in the sand, and how nothing seemed to interrupt it. 

“That is very true,” Joel agreed and pointed at the square. “This is the base of our contract, it will never manifest into real paper, but it will bind us.” Hanzo would never admit that he thought the square with the circle in the corner was underwhelming and dumb. “You will say and write your terms in the sand, writing down every little detail you have specified before during the walk and in the restaurant. The deal will be sealed with you saying that you will follow this pact until it is resolved, sign your name, and donate a drop or two of blood in the lines of the circle to seal the deal. I will have to agree to the terms and do the same.”

“This seems very simple, but why do i have to write it?” Hanzo asked and looked at the demon. 

“Your body carries the magic that can carry out most of the stuff in the contract, it will need some of that to make everything actually work.” Jesse stated plainly and looked from Hanzo to the clear blue sky. 

With that being said Hanzo crouched down by the “contract, “Do i need to know your true name to write this out Joel?” He would honestly be surprised if Joel was his name, a demon’s name was a powerful thing. Joel smirked and nodded at his question. 

“You will need to know my name pumpkin, and its Jesse, Jesse McCree.” He replied and Hanzo couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows. 

“You don’t look like a Joel, just letting you know now Jesse.” Hanzo replied and looked up at the demon. Jesse laughed and shook his head. 

“You’re not the first one to say that,” he replied and watched the other, waiting expectantly. No use prolonging it now that he got the information that he needed. The dragons rolled worriedly under his skin, as if a pressure in his stomach. 

“I, Hanzo Shimada and Jesse McCree are entering a formal contract.” Hanzo stated and wrote it at the top of the “paper” avoiding the swirl mark. In the wake of the sloppy english handwriting came crisp words. “In order to find my younger brother Genji Shimada wherever he may be in the world. I offer in return for two favors magical or mundane that do not include life sacrifice or soul trade, those favors can be used whenever during Hanzo Shimada’s time alive on earth. Making sure neither of us die on this trip that involves linking our life forces now and possibly forever if one of our life forces is depleted. Upon physical contact or verbal contact with Genji Shimada, the contract will end, the only exception being if one relies on the other’s life force, that being the only thing remaining of the contract linking us together besides the favors previously stated.” Hanzo lifted his finger from the sand and grabbed a blade from his bag. “I Hanzo Shimada agree to the rules of the contract outlined above.”

He signed his name before pricking the tip of his finger and pressing the blood into the circle at the bottom right hand corner. A light illuminated the circle, a dark crimson as his blood spread through half the circle, farther than it should have as a singular drop of blood. 

“A real wordsmith,” Jesse chuckled as Hanzo stepped away from the contract on the ground. Jesse easily took his place and read the contract with confidence and ease. He had probably done it before and Hanzo paid attention to each word he had said, trying not to get lost in the soothing deep drawl of the demon’s voice. 

“-I Jesse McCree agree to the rules in the contract outlined above,” Hanzo looked down as the demon signed his name and shoved his finger into his mouth and came out with it bloody. He held his finger over the circle till a few drops dripped into the outline. 

A brighter light erupted from the circle and shot towards the both of them, the half where Jesse’s blood shot towards Hanzo, and the other half with Hanzo’s blood, towards Jesse. The feeling was an instant, relief from the heat as cold washed over Hanzo’s skin as a weight seemed to anchor in his chest. An ethereal and spiritual chain extended from his chest and linked to Jesse’s with an audible click. Electricity ran across the chain, but stopped short of Jesse. 

The chain then disappeared, the heat of the desert sun bore once again on Hanzo, washing away the cool layer that was previously over his skin. Hanzo looked down and saw that their contract had disappeared from the sand, no remnants of it remained, as if it never happened. 

“Its a pleasure doing business, now if I may, can I see the scarf?” Jesse asked and walked closer to Hanzo, the closer the demon came, the weight seemed to lighten in his chest. 

“Sure,” Hanzo said and grabbed his bag and zipped it open. The knife went back into the bag before he dug out the scarf. He was hesitant to hand it over because it was Genji’s scarf, but he did knowing that it was the only way that they could find his brother. He offered the white scarf over to Jesse, who took it and tipped his hat at Hanzo before unfolding the garment and examining it. 

“He didn’t wear this often, did he,” Jesse hummed and inspected the bloodstains closer and started to walk. Hanzo kept a pace beside the demon easily. 

“No, his two favored were a green one and an orange one. This white one i knew he took on his travels to keep warm in colder destinations he may travel, but leaving it in Egypt strikes me as odd considering that it is such a warm place.” Hanzo found himself commenting as he tucked a hand into his pocket and pulled out the ring that was meant for his brother. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to slip the ring on because his brother had more lithe fingers than his own. 

“That is pretty odd,” Jesse agreed and folded the scarf back up. “I should be able to get some of the information i need from it, but can i possibly see that ring as well? I assume he wore it more than this here scarf.” Glancing sideways, their eyes met and for a moment there was nothing but stagnant silence between them. 

“Sure,” Hanzo replies and extends a hand out to Jesse, the ring perched carefully between his fingers. The taller male reached and grabbed the ring from Hanzo, the tips of their fingers brushed as Jesse took the ring into his hand. Lightning crackled between them, catching Hanzo off guard, his ears ringing as a familiar electricity crackled around him. The ringing in his ears was broken by a familiar deep rolling growl of the dragons curled around him. He glanced around at the two long, transparent bodies of the dragons and followed their gaze easily to a confused and defensive Jesse. 

“That is enough you two, you said you would not interfere,” Hanzo spoke up, his voice soft in his own ears, overtaken by the ringing. 

“We are simply making our presence known, and that we will defend Hanzo if it comes down to it.” Maron replied yet didn’t take their eyes off of the desert demon. 

“You made it well known to me when you were shown during our binding hovering around him all worried. I know better than to deal with big spirits like yourselves, I know one myself that can be right mean if he wants.” The demon replied, and almost looked unphased at the presence of the two dragons. Taking a second look, it seemed the opposite, his shoulders were tense, even if the rest of his body language is relaxed. 

“That is enough,” Hanzo interrupted and patted the spirits on their flanks. “You will know if I ever need trouble, you don’t need to threaten him.” He saw their heads turn to face him, almost curious. “Now we need to get going before people walk upon this, just trust me on this.” There was hesitance, and the dragons curled together around Hanzo for a moment before disappearing with one last sharp glance at the other. They faded in a cloud of luminescent blue and Hanzo sighed and picked up the pace again. 

Hanzo anticipated the silence that was between them, and this time unlike every other time, they were silent for almost half an hour. It was tense, charged silence, a tense understanding, or maybe misunderstanding between them because of the dragons. Hanzo didn’t glance over at the other, instead he looked straight ahead where the golden sands met the azure skies. It was mesmerizing, Hanzo could almost see the heat off the sands swirling the horizon. 

“ -always that intense?” The soft drawing mutter broke Hanzo from his daze and he finally looked over at the familiar profile of Jesse. 

“What?” He inquired and saw that the ring was still in Jesse’s hand, but being rolled from finger to finger almost as if in thought. 

“The spirits, are they always that intense?” Jesse inquired, those amber eyes staring right at him, very concentrated on something. Hanzo looked away and back at the horizon, unable to meet such an intense gaze. 

“They are, most times when they get like that its like they roll right under my skin, and they let me know of their displeasure. This one came without warning. The electricity I’ve gotten use to and I am sorry that they threatened you in such a way.” He replied with not as much as a second thought on why he was being so honest. 

“When a link is shared, burdens or benefits are usually shared if they are a part of your being.” Jesse replied with a sigh, “I felt the buzzing because i’m not use to it, but it is like the feeling is dulled, feeling twice as weak for you. A thing you got from me for example, is that you’re not getting overheated or sunburnt in the desert.” It didn’t really dawn on him until he looked down and saw that his arms weren’t burnt despite being exposed to the sun for a while now, and Hanzo usually burned if he was exposed to sun for a long amount of time. 

“Interesting,” he muttered and turned his arms and saw that he wasn’t burning like he thought he would have at that point, instead he was slowly getting tan. 

“Those fellas don’t seem to like me much,” the comment was off hand, obviously with no malice behind the words. Hanzo couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head. 

“I have known these spirits for years now, and they don’t like anyone.” He replied with mirth in his voice as he shrugged his bag father up his shoulder. “I meet someone new and almost immediately they are wary, and you being a demon doesn’t bode well for your odds in gaining their favor.” 

“Figures, all demons are portrayed as evil.” Jesse tisked and glanced at the ring in his hand contemplatively. 

“You have proved them wrong so far,” Hanzo offered, though he didn’t know why he did. He frowned and looked back in front of himself trying to wrack his brain for a reason on why he said that. 

“South Asia,” Jesse tossed the ring in the air and caught it. “That’s awfully far away from where we are now.” The hand with the ring extended over to Hanzo and the witch was caught off guard before he accepted the ring back. “Do you know where exactly in South Asia?” He had made several trips to a few countries in south Asia back when he was younger, back when their family had the money to expand their service reaches.

“Can’t quite pin that yet, when we get closer I will be able to tell.” This posed a difficult problem, that Nepal was very far away from Egypt. Thousands of miles of land and possibly sea and Hanzo was antsy to find his brother and get the contract over with. The constraint of time wasn’t as pressuring as the fact that now they were so close to Genji. 

“I have a way of getting us back to Japan and head to Nepal that way. It probably won’t be any closer, but I have more friends in Southern Asia than through here.” Hanzo offered, thinking back to the teleportation circle under his living room rug. It took a lot of trial and error to keep the magic circle from fading, but eventually with some hand sewing and magic inlaid sewing thread. A delicate procedure but one he was proud he managed to make. Whenever he needed to, he could quickly hop home, but getting back where he was last was the harder part. 

“I assume you have a plan if I do agree to head with you down to your home.” Jesse offered and adjusted the hat on his head and let the brim of his hat shade his eyes from the sun further. 

 

“Partly,” Hanzo agreed, “I assumed we could come up with a solid plan together. Since we have to work together, it is in our best interests to make it easier for the both of us.” Though the best interest of them both has them both walking through the desert mid-day despite the fact that Hanzo was affected by heat where Jesse wasn’t. 

“At least you have your head on straight, it makes everything less difficult,” Jesse complimented and the wizard looked over at his companion and rose his eyebrows. 

“Have you been with other people who were otherwise?” There was a deep burning curiosity that Hanzo didn’t want to overwhelm the other. There were so many things that his family didn’t know, that he doesn’t know, about the details with demon contracts and other such information. It was something that Hanzo could write down for future confrontations, but for now he decided to keep it quiet he may not even get all his questions answered. He wanted this contract done with as soon as possible. Hanzo wanted to make sure that Genji was okay, that is all this was for. 

There was a soft chuckle, “I haven’t, I’ve been taught to choose my contractor’s wisely, but I have seen others that have been with absolute loons. Some friends, one time it was a mistake my father figure had to fix that he put on himself.”

It took a moment for the information to soak in, “I assume that your father figure was the one who made sure you knew how to pick people, how to read them like an open book.” Hanzo half accused but there was no heat behind it, he was actually a bit impressed by the feat the demon had for reading his situation so quickly back in town. He didn’t want to show that he was impressed, it would only stroke the ego. 

“I’ve always been good at reading people, just has gotten better with a few lessons, and a few decades as well.” Jesse dismissed with a small wave of his gloved hand. “My siblings couldn’t hide much from me when we were all young.” Siblings, that statement surprised Hanzo a bit more than it probably should have. 

“They got better with age though, didn’t they?” Hanzo offered, glancing back over at the other. It was surprising seeing an expression that wasn’t relaxed or smiling on his face. There was a soft smile on his face but his eyes were distant, glazed over. An expression that was so vulnerable, like he had seen on everyone’s faces since his mother’s passing. 

As soon as it was there, it was covered by a grin, a well crafted mask. “Aw, gettin’ all soft on me now Shimada?” Hanzo’s train of thought broke and he scowled at the other before snorting. 

“It seems like you’re the soft hearted one out of the two of us Jesse McCree.” Hanzo wasn’t raised to be soft hearted after all, he was brought up to be logical, pushing emotion aside for the business. People would try to manipulate any emotion they’d see, it was a weakness. Maybe that is exactly what drove Genji away, people trying to manipulate him to get favors. 

“Hardly,” Jesse barked. “No cold hearted man would go wandering around the world in search of their brother. You care a lot and no one cold hearted would care as much as to drop everything to look for family.” 

Hanzo pondered what he said for a moment before scoffing. “For someone at very least a few decades old, your scope of how people can be is very narrow.” He wished he could believe the Oni’s words, but he couldn’t. 

“I’m narrow minded?” The demon squawked indignantly. “You’re narrow minded for thinking that there is only good and bad and there is no one in between much like you are right now.” Jesse argued back and pointed accusingly at the shorter human. The comment obviously got under his skin and Hanzo rolled his eyes. 

“You do not know me well enough to say those sorts of things. If you knew the stuff I have done in the past.” Hanzo seethed and smacked the hand away from his face. “Don’t act like you know all about me when you obviously don’t.” 

“Just because I don’t know you doesn’t mean I can’t make the point that people can change for the better. Being hostile at each other will only make this trip ten times longer.” Jesse replied, obviously exasperated and Hanzo knew that he had a good point on the last one. Jesse had been kind and courteous up until this argument. 

The silence that came after the argument lasted until sunset, both of them too stubborn to speak, and the once light atmosphere between them was heavy with the words said during the argument. It wasn’t until exhaustion started to pull at Hanzo’s limbs and the air grew colder that he finally spoke up, seeing that the demon had no intentions of slowing down. 

“Should we stop for the night? We should probably get some rest.” Hanzo said quietly, hating that he had to be the first to speak up. 

“The town is a full day’s travel, so if we slept tonight it would be tomorrow evening that we’d arrive.” The statement Hanzo knew to be true, he had looked at a map previously. “Unless you have your magic mojo stuff ready and you can just take us back to Japan.” 

Hanzo shook his head and looked over at the other. “I need a solid floor to do i on, and since the desert sand isn’t as solid as I need it for this spell, we have to wait till we’re in the next town before I can take us to Japan.”

“Damn, thought we could get out of all this walking. Its awfully tiring.” The demon replied with a sigh and there was a pause. 

“Your immortal, how is walking in the desert exausting, when you are a desert demon?” Hanzo asked bluntly and looked unamused. 

“You’re saying its not exhausting?” Jesse asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“I’m not saying that, but I am a bit skeptical that at the pace we’ve been going that you are exhausted.” Hanzo was tired, he could stay up for a longer period of time, he had done it before, but it wasn’t really good for his health to do so.” 

“What would happen if we tried it in the desert?” Jesse inquired. 

“The unstable ground could send us to another teleportation circle or it could teleport us in a 50 mile proximity of my place.” He’s done it before, nothing he would want to do again, but in the process he did make a friend so he came out of the experience richer in one way. 

“Looks like we have a lot of walking ahead of us,” Jesse sighed and took off his hat. Before he ran a hand through his sweaty hair Hanzo saw the state of his hat hair and couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. Jesse gave him a sideways glance before running a hand through his hair and rolling his eyes, but a smile was on his face. “Laugh it up, at least my hat fits.” 

“Your hair seems to be protesting though,” Hanzo humored and took off his own hat and used the brim to fan himself in the face before packing it up. There was no use wearing it at night. 

“Of course you’re hair would be perfect,” Jesse openly complained and Hanzo glanced up from his bag. 

“Its a magic hat, of course i could enchant it not to ruin my hair, and to repel heat.” There was no need to burn bridges, but making them seemed to be the best bet with Jesse. He was friends with Ana and Fareeha and who knows who else. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, or at least he could hope.


	4. Chapter 4

Making it to the next city was a relief, as the mid-morning sun slowly rose towards is peak in the sky. Hanzo could feel that he was exhausted, the constant walking through the night just to get to the city. Hanzo had put his hat back onto the top of his head in response to the peaking sun on the horizon earlier that morning. It was an odd sight though to see two smaller versions of his dragons, one on each shoulder, resting under the shade of the hat. 

“Don’t those fellas need to disappear? Someone may spot them.” Jesse commented but continued to look around the town. 

“Only if someone is close the spiritual realm, or you because you’re contracted to me will see the dragons, I assure you that they are fine where they are.” He replied and looked over at Jesse. The demon didn’t seem at all exhausted from their trek through the desert for almost a whole day. Maybe it was because that the desert is his element, his home, gave him something that Hanzo couldn’t understand. 

“That’s awful convenient,” Jesse commented and looked around the larger town. “So where do we need to do this magic stuff?” Hanzo saw this question coming, and he too looked around at the wide streets filled with stalls early in the morning. “Somewhere I can be for an hour to trace a teleportation circle and do an incantation to get us back to Japan, and that has a solid floor. The only thing I can think of is getting a hotel room, paying for it ahead of time, and then just using the floor in the room.” Hanzo replied and tucked his hands into his pockets as Momo shifted on his shoulders and the tail flopped against his back instead of where it was making the back of his neck sweat. 

“In this town, every place has people, so the hotel room will probably be our best bet.” Jesse agreed and went to pull a cigar from his pocket, but realizing his pocket was empty seemed to remember that he has burned through his last cigar sometime during their nighttime walk, commenting on how cold it could get at night no doubt. 

“I don’t know any other way that would remain on the good side of legal,” Hanzo commented and decidedly ignored the vendors and tried to stay on the least crowded part of the street, even with cars and carts trying to make their way through crowds of people. 

“There should be a hotel just ahead, I’ve been here once or twice for Ana, but it could have changed in that time.” For the both of them, Hanzo hoped that there was a hotel up ahead, because if there wasn’t, it would be more time in this busy city. A street market nowadays was pretty busy, Hanzo was willing to bet there was an underside to this street market somewhere that would sell goods for potions, shifters, and other creatures alike, all it would take to find it is some digging. His gaze went from stall to stall on one side of the street and quickly assessed which stalls he thought would have such underground goods, he didn’t realize his pace had slowed down. 

 

It wasn’t till a hand grabbed his shoulder, one warm, and vaguely familiar. He broke from his stupor and pulled back from the grasp. “Earth to Hanzo, its dangerous to space out here.” Hanzo stared dumbly at his companion for a moment before nodding. 

“I apologize,” Hanzo replied and looked around. “I was caught up in my thoughts.” Jesse looked at him for a minute longer before nodding and letting out a sigh. 

“We’re not that far,” was all the other said and continued down the path again, and Hanzo followed the demon with the trust that the other knew what he was talking about. It took another five minutes of walking through the street before they made it into a small plaza, and Jesse b-lined for a hole in the wall type building. 

“Let me take care of this,” Jesse insisted when they were just outside the door, and Hanzo was honestly too tired to protest. 

“Lets just not take too long, drawing the thing is going to take an hour itself.” Hanzo replied and rubbed his eyes. The Dragons on his shoulders made a discontented noise and had to resettle in the shade of the hat to rest again. Jesse tipped his hat in acknowledgement before he disappeared into the building and left Hanzo into the plaza. 

“Will you need us to push through the teleportation summon?” Maron asked, rumbling straight into his ear. 

“Probably,” he muttered with a sigh. “The heat sucks away all my energy it feels like.”

“Just make sure to stay hydrated like you have been young master.” Momo purred reassuringly, their tail raising to brush under his jaw. 

“You’d think that being contracted to a desert demon would help alleviate the pressures of the heat.” Maron commented and got up and started to walk across his shoulder to where Momo was and flopped down by the other dragon lazily. 

“I would be dead surely if I was normal.” He replied and closed his eyes and leaned against the hotel wall by the doorway. 

“I think young master is cranky,” Momo said quietly, Hanzo almost didn’t catch it and he rolled his eyes and sighed. 

“Its weird bein’ able to hear all this.” Jesse’s voice came from the doorway and he looked over to see a key card between Jesse’s gloved fingers. 

“I assume we got a room then?” He asked and pulled himself from the wall. 

“Yes we did darlin’,” Jesse replied and ducked back into the hotel, Hanzo hot on his heels. They ended up being on the second floor of the establishment right off the stairs, the floor would be sturdy enough he appraised as he walked up the staircase. 

 

“Are they always so chatty?” The question came out of nowhere, Hanzo looked up at Jesse. A puzzled expression crossed his face briefly as they made it to the second floor. Seeing the confusion when he turned, he spoke up again. “Those little…dragons of yours. They were chatting up a storm in the plaza.”

They walked down the hall, and glanced at the door numbers as they passed. “When they want to be, usually they aren’t as…” Hanzo gestured vaguely with one hand. “Judgy.”

“Naw I get it,” they found their room and Jesse was quick to open the door and a cold rush of air conditioning ran over their skin. Hanzo couldn’t help but close his eyes and relish in the cold air as he walked through the doorway. “They’re being picky because of the contract, If that is as bad as they get, I’ve seen worse with people I wasn’t contracted to.” The door shut behind them and Hanzo shrugged off his bag on the one bed in the center of the room. The floors were wood but held a small rug in the center, and he bent down and grabbed the corner of the rub and flipped it, seeing it wasn’t adhered to the wood floor. 

“It seems to be a running theme with being picky about the contract. Its not even a bad deal.” The demon finally took his hat off and flopped it on the edge of the bed and ran his hand through his hair and then he sat down himself. Hanzo went back to his bag and grabbed a metal box from the bottom of his bag after digging for a bit. He popped open the container. He set the metal aside and reached back into his bag for an old yet small leather book, from the magic faintly coming off of it, it had spells and charms in it most likely. 

“You should snooze while you can, this will take an hour.” The wizard didn’t look up at the demon as he grabbed a stick of chalk from the tin with his left hand and turned to a dog eared page of the spell book. There was a bit of silence before the human started drawing a good sized circle on the floor. 

“Tempting, I don’t think that there are any deserts in the place we’ll be going, but you look just exhausted darlin’, so I suppose I’ll try to keep you company.” A frown appeared on the once neutral face as he glanced back up at the notebook and started to drawn in the larger shapes before the inevitable text. 

“How kind,” there was obvious sarcasm in the statement, a bitter snippy tone on the edge of the words. It was obvious bait to continue a fight, the demon didn’t bite but instead got up and skirted around the edge of the circle and towards the bathroom and door. 

“If you need anything just holler and I can run into town for ya’ real quick, do you mind if I quick hop into the shower?” A change of subject, one that made Hanzo set his jaw in frustration but he shook his head no, an indication to let the other do as he pleased. 

There was the sound of a door clicking shut, and a minute later the faint rush of the water running in the bathroom. None of this deterred Hanzo from drawing the summoning circle he had drawn many times before. 

This particular circle was created once he got his shop, after everything with his family went up in smoke. He used a little of his large inheritance he had to get a small shop, a hole in the wall, and it fit what he needed from it perfectly. This, not before Genji had gone off to see the world. What the family had was large, their name was renowned, but Hanzo had put his foot down at the fact he didn’t want to run a magic business only focused on profit and not their clients. After their parent’s untimely death, it was easier to let things take their natural course, let the large business close down in favor of his smaller business. A move that separates him from what his ancestors created. 

For the longest time not many people go to Hanzo’s business, let alone trust him, he was a Shimada after all, but things just started to pick up when he left to search for Genji. He reassured people when that magic disease went through town that he would be back. 

Time passed slowly with those thoughts, Maron and Momo remained silent as he stewed in his thoughts, what he could have done differently. This was a bad habit that Hanzo had gotten into lately, but traveling alone with only spirits as company didn’t bring many distractions. 

“If you frown anymore your face will stick that way, haven’t you heard about that?” Though the company he had now, he wasn’t sure if it was the ideal one to keep him distracted. 

“That is absurd,” he scoffed and continued around the circle, seeing as he was distracted he was putting a bit too much pressure behind his strokes, and the chalk was worn down a bit more than it should have been, nothing rotating the tube couldn’t fix. Though the thought ran through his mind, did that much time pass as he was thinking?

“Don’t blame me then when you have creases between your eyebrows in three years.” Jesse replied passively and no doubt with a gesture, he noticed that the demon tends to talk with his hands. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” the reply was crisp as Hanzo glanced up at the book where the sample circle sat, and he continued to draw it. Through all his thoughts and the now apparent long shower the demon took, he was about halfway done. 

“You’re awful snippy when you’re sleepy,” the comment was quietly muttered, but in the small hotel room, it was easy to hear. There was a soft growl from Maron and Hanzo rolled his eyes. 

“Unlike you I need sleep to function at my best.” The retort was quick and finally he looked up from the summoning circle to look at the other. There was nothing but a soft expression on the demon’s face, a glint in his eyes that showed that he was amused. 

“That may be true, but in this plain i need sleep more than on any other plain.” A lax comment, as if to disarm the conversation. As much as it peeved Hanzo, it worked. 

“How many plains can you access as a demon?” He couldn’t just leave him at a cliff hanger and not expect him to ask questions. 

“A few, I’m not too sure how many there truly are that i have access to, some demons have access to realms I won’t, and its all just a weird very complex system even for us.” 

“Interesting, so there could be a handful or hundreds?”

“Exactly, I was never told, and I ain’t exactly dying to know either. No matter where you go there will be nice or mean people, so may as well stick to the plain you know best.” Another interesting saying that begged him to ask questions, but the questions stayed in his head instead. “Its the same reasoning that keeps people so close to home for most of their lives.” 

That is exactly what Hanzo was doing now, he was still living in the same town that he grew up in, just on a different side of town. Travelling the world was never really something that piqued his interest until he was in his teens, but even then he knew he’d be content staying at home in Hanamura. “It is,” he agreed. 

“What is home for you Hanzo?” The question had him pausing, lifting the chalk from the fresh mark. Hanamura. 

“Home is a house on top of the hill,” a hill that looked over the rest of Hanamura on the hill below, “there are cherry blossoms.” The trees were everywhere, lined the streets and sprinkled in people’s yards, in the spring is was a sight he could sit and watch for hours. He bit back the last part of what he was going to say, through the past half a year he was starting to get home sick, wishing to find Genji quickly so he could talk with him, and also take care of the business back home. He was pressing it being out so long and not maintaining income with the business. 

“Do you remember what home was like cowboy?” He switched the question back on the demon and went back to drawing the circle, a bit faster. There was a long draw of silence and Hanzo was about to look up when he was given a response. 

“I don’t, only fleeting memories come when you think back at my age, but i do remember being in a desert.” It figures that the demon wouldn’t answer definitively, instead keeping cryptic. Whether it was to remain illusive or to not get attached, he didn’t know. Though it was obvious the question was too personal for the brunette’s liking. 

They didn’t converse from there. Jesse had asked if he could open a window and smoke, which Hanzo didn’t mind and allowed, vaguely Hanzo remembered that the demon had no smokes on him, but that was the only other conversation they had. It was fine, he had to focus on the Japanese characters in the inside ring of the circle, the most tedious part of the whole thing. A few times he had to stand up from his kneeling position to stretch, his back getting too sore and his knees aching from the unforgiving wood floor. 

“That should do it,” getting up from his knees, he set the remaining chalk back into the container and brushed off his hands. The statement like a gunshot through the silent room as the book and tin went back into his bag. “You ready to go?” Hanzo asked, not looking up from his bag as he zipped it shut. 

“As I’ll ever be,” the response he wanted to hear. He shrugged his bag on his shoulder and watched as the cowboy got up from where he was leaning on against the window ledge and looked in the direction of the circle. “Where do I need to be?” He asked and took a few long strides to the circle and stopped right at the edge of it. 

“Well first of all, in the circle,” he stated bluntly. With that confirmation, the demon took a step into the smaller circle and for the first time they were very close to each other. There was an obvious awkwardness in how the other held himself board stiff. Seeing such an easygoing person so nervous was a bit amusing. “I didn’t know you got shy,” he ribbed and adjusted the ring on his right hand. 

“We’re going to be basically hugging each other for about thirty seconds, that’s all you need to do, maybe close your eyes too to avoid vertigo.” Hanzo explained calmly, almost clinically, and the other nodded. 

“Easy peasy then,” he said with a small smile. 

“Yes,” Hanzo said and took a step into Jesse’s space and wrapped his left arm around the other’s middle. A hand braced over his shoulder, a hand resting just below his shoulder blades as he faced his palm to the ground. He closed his eyes and concentrated, muttering a spell under his breath in Japanese. The room lit up around them in soft blue and amber light before suddenly they were bathed in darkness, no noise, no light. There was the faint light of the circle in the peripheries of his vision, but he kept his eyes shut. The darkness got lighter. The familiar smell of incense and the inevitable smell of dust was in the air. There they stood in the middle of Hanzo’s living room. The moment they were solid on the ground, Hanzo let go of Jesse, even when the other was obviously more hesitant. 

“Fancy that,” Jesse commented with a whistle. 

“Welcome to Hanamura, let me get some lights on.” Hanzo started to do the math in his head, and once he flicked the lights on for the living room, he saw that it was just after five in the evening. 

“Been a while huh?” The demon hadn’t moved, but instead was looking around and admiring the room around him. “So, what is your plan for getting to where we need to go, because darlin, we ain’t any closer to the place then when we started.”

It was a good question, but the long walk in the desert gave him plenty of time to think. He walked down the hall and flicked on that light, showing three doors, two bedrooms and a bathroom. 

“What is your opinion on flying?”


	5. Chapter 5

After looking at a map, Jesse revealed that the place in question was Nepal. At the house they had a lot more items Genji had touched, letters he had written, and that was enough to pinpoint the country. 

They had been in Hanamura two days, the evening for the first day to get rest, and the second day with his business open downstairs. He had his laptop on the desk looking for airline tickets for the next day. The whole time Hanzo was downstairs, Jesse was confined to the upstairs, and with whatever he could entertain himself with. 

The television was probably on like it was last time he went upstairs. The demon didn’t totally agree to go on the plane trip, but there was no other way they would get to Nepal with such a good time efficiency. Taking a boat and hiking to Nepal would take way too long for Hanzo’s liking. Genji may not be in Nepal by the time they’d hike there. 

How Jesse entertained himself didn’t matter to him, as long as it didn’t break anything of his upstairs. He knew he could trust the demon enough that he wouldn’t ruin his personal belongings. He proved that last night when Hanzo was asleep and he decided to read on the couch for the most part, language no barrier to the brunette American. 

If Hanzo was completely honest with himself, Jesse proved to be something that he never expected out of a demon. Unlike the many stories he was told through his life, the demon was kind, like he would find a friend would be, the other never tried to manipulate him (yet) to get what he wanted out of the deal, but then again that could change. There were a few consistencies that stayed with what he had been told: a demon could be vile in its true form but when blending in gorgeous (though that may just be Hanzo’s bias),and they didn’t need to sleep or only slept when they used a lot of their energy.

The bell above the shop door rang and he scooted the rolling chair back from where he was at the desk, shutting his laptop as he peered around the corner at the entrance.

“So you’re home again Hanzo, what brings you home,” the successor of the second magic shop in town, one that has been running just as long as the Shimada one had been running up until Hanzo disbanded it. 

“Just for tonight, I fly out tomorrow, little emergency with a close friend of mine down there.” He lied smoothly and gestured to the shop. “Your dad or mom need something from me while I’m in town? It would save you a trip up into the mountains.” He offered and leaned back in his chair. 

“Don’t do that, it reminds me too much of Genji,” she chased teasingly but stepped further into the shop. She looked around at the potions and charms that have gathered dust with a soft hum, and then back to the desk where a lot of raw ingredients and magic books sat neat and tidy. “Do you have any… dried apple blossom petals and moon dust? We have a large order of sleeping potions that came in, and we’re short supplies for two bottles.” 

A hum slipped his lips as he stood up and walked over to a cabinet that was buried in the wall near the desk. He unlocked the lock with the scanning of his thumb and dug around amidst bottles and boxes. 

“I should have some, I think i have an abundance actually.” He wouldn’t say that the potions he made were often for himself and forced upon him by his worrying dragons, but those same dragons were the ones who would bring him the supplies too if they saw he was even remotely close to out. 

“Thank you for letting us take some of your stock,” she thanks him before the stuff is in her hands, but after going to the bottom shelf, he finds the two worn down bottles he is looking for. 

“You have a bag or do you want me to lend you a bottle or two?” He inquires and sets the larger bottles on the edge of his desk and locks the cabinet back up. 

“I wasn’t actually expecting you to offer your supplies, so two bottles please, I will shove them in your mailbox when I’m done.” She replied with a smile and Hanzo was quick to portion out the petals and dust into two small bottles. It was something he had done plenty of times before. It was only just over a minute before he offered the bottles to her. 

“Well, I’ve been away for so long that i don’t want this to go to waste, but-” he paused and put the two larger containers aside and sealed them up. “I shouldn’t be much longer before I am back home for a good while.”

“That will be nice I bet-” she looked at the bottles then back to Hanzo. “Did we ever thank you for coming back to help with the limb rot disease?” 

“You did not, but the community thanked me enough for me to get the message.” He replied and shifted his legs so they were crossed at the ankles.

“Anyways I should get back, my parents will chew me out if I take too much longer.” She waved and headed out the door. “Nice seeing you again Hanzo.”

“Nice seeing you again too,” he managed out before she slammed the door behind herself. There was only a moment of pause before he got up to put the petals and dust away. It had been pretty slow but then again Hanzo hasn’t been open for a while so he wasn’t expecting much traffic into the store. Once the supplies were put back in their rightful spot, he went back to the desk and opened his laptop once more.

“Awful nice of you to do,” the voice of Jesse startled him, and he turned to face the demon, slightly annoyed. 

“They’ve been nice to me, its good to return the favor once, plus, didn’t i ask you to go upstairs and stay out of sight?” He implored and looked back to his computer screen and clicked a confirmation on their tickets to the capital city of Nepal. 

“No one can see me but you darling, a perk of a bit of magic, but there isn’t much to do upstairs. I figured if I make myself disguised you wouldn’t mind me popping down.” The assumption was right, the only reason Hanzo wanted Jesse upstairs was to keep suspicions or rumors at bay, but if he could stay invisible there was no reason he would have to be upstairs bored. He weighed the options for a moment before looking back at the brunette man. 

“There isn’t much else to do down here either, besides maybe look at all of the bottles and figure what everything is, maybe.” He replied and went back to his laptop, saving a screenshot of the confirmation he purchased the tickets, before exiting out of the internet and closing it back up. He stood up from the desk and stretched. 

“I suppose conversation could help pass the time, or at least till you get a customer.” Jesse suggested and sat down on one of the chairs set up as a makeshift waiting room. He weighed the options as he picked up the laptop to bring it back upstairs. 

“It is better than nothing, besides,” he looked back at the other and opened the door upstairs to his home. “I still know nothing about you, you’re cryptic with everything you say.” He said pointedly and then went upstairs to drop off his computer. 

“Not all the time,” Jesse’s voice called up the stairs and Hanzo couldn’t help but snort and roll his eyes. 

“Getting to know just your name doesn’t count as being truthful if its the only instance.” The laptop was set down on the coffee table and plugged in to charge before Hanzo went back down the stairs. 

“I’m wounded Hanzo,” Jesse was leaning in the doorway with a hand over his heart and a small smouldering pout on his face. For a moment it was cute and Hanzo nudged Jesse aside and made it back into the shop. 

“I’m the one who should feel wounded, here you are figuring out everything about me, and you’re being cryptic. We don’t even know how long we will be contracted together for.” They made their way past his workspace and into a small kitchenette. “Tea?”

“Sure,” Jesse agreed and leaned against the counter, out of the way of Hanzo. There was a bit of silence as Hanzo busied himself around the kitchenette, but only a few moments. “This plane stuff will be completely new to me.” Jesse admitted, looking around at the supplies and potions around the shop. 

“In all the years you’ve been around, you’ve never been on an airplane?” Hanzo asked and set the kettle on the stove top. 

“Well it should be an interesting first trip, but nothing will happen to you. I’ll make sure of that.” There was a brief passing of surprise on Jesse’s face before a smile and soft laugh. 

“Thank you, almost ironic that it would be reversed for this instance.” There was obvious mirth in his comment and Hanzo smiled slightly. 

“With the contract is practically mutual protection unless we want to be spiritually handcuffed together for the rest of our lives.” Hanzo commented with a small hand gesture. 

“Speaking of spirit, where are your little dragons?” He asked and peered over his shoulder into the waiting room curiously. Hanzo looked through the kitchen at his work desk and hummed. 

“Probably asleep, a familiar place to help recenter themselves or something like that.” Hanzo dismissed the worry but faced Jesse and leaned against the counter. Jesse seemed to accept this answer and he tucked his hands into his pants pockets. 

“That makes sense, demons have to do the same thing once in a while, go back to where they are strongest and just...recharge. Its not that weird.” Hanzo walked out of the kitchen and gestured Jesse to follow, walking out of the back and into the true front of the store. 

“It may be that my spirit being linked with another person is causing more drain on them, usually they can just go dormant with me for a bit and recharge, but it seemed that it didn’t work the other night.” Hanzo commented and went to check the supplies of the shop, just a rough count, he would truly check everything once he was back home after finding Genji. 

“I don’t doubt it for a second but by our timing we shouldn’t be together for a prolonged period of time, especially if we fly to the right place first go.” It was a very hopeful thought and he couldn’t help but agree with the demon’s hopes. There was a decent possibility they would be close to where they need to be but at the same time Nepal was a very mountainous country, and Hanzo doubted they would be close enough that they could walk without needing another ride even closer to the destination. 

“You have been gone a while,” Hanzo looked over as the demon swiped dust off the top of a potion bottle. He pinched the dust between his fingers before brushing it off on his pants. 

“I have but there should be a spell in my arsonal that should be able to dust off this place.” The comment came as hanzo ran a finger down the blade of one of the enchanted weapons he stored, or at least the weapon on the wall was a fake, the real one hidden away up in his house. 

“When do we leave for the airplane?” The demon’s tan fingers ran down the empty lip of one of the wood shelves, his back facing the wizard. 

“In four hours,” the reply came smooth but it didn’t seem to soothe the demon at all. The kettle whistled in the back room and Hanzo moved to get it. 

So demons could get nervous, interesting. 

\- - - - - - - - -

Sitting by Jesse wasn’t the easiest thing on the airplane, especially when he was exuding such anxious energy. Hanzo could almost feel how anxious the other was, but this was like most first flyers. Through the beginning Hanzo comforted Jesse and talked to him until the plane was off the ground a smoothly cutting through the air thousands of feet above the ground. After taking off the anxiety melted away to curiosity as the other peeked out the window and down at the distant ground below. 

They had conversed afterwards, not about anything about Jesse’s demonic status or Hanzo’s magic. They talked about simple things like how things like friends, swapped simple stories, and traded jabs at each other. Hanzo found out a bit more about Jesse, the comment in the kitchenette must have sparked something in the other, but not quite enough to satisfy Hanzo completely, but it was a start and he was grateful. Jesse doesn’t remember much of his true family, on the plane he mentioned it was his old age and being adopted the first part being a joke to the eyes of everyone else, but Hanzo knew the truth in that cover up. He mentioned that a nice couple taught him what he knows and were really supportive, and he figured going out on his own would help him learn about the world. 

Hanzo in turn spun stories about his parents and brother, covered up the unsightly stuff he didn’t want to talk about, but talked about the things that were truly happy memories. He mentioned in passing his parents died probably too young, but in the business their dad ran it was common. Jesse didn’t question it, but from there they simply made the mood lighter. 

After getting off the plane the two of them stretched after sitting in a small airline seat for far too long. “We’re definitely way closer, can almost taste it.” Jesse’s arms were above his head and he groaned as something in his back popped. Hanzo flinched at the noise and looked around the airport. 

“There should be a map where we can figure where to go from here, or is it very close?”

“Naw, we need to go further west, its close, but not close enough to hike i reckon.” They walked through the airport and hopefully they could find a map on their way to figure out what ticket they need to get for the next leg of their trip. 

Finding the map took about twenty minutes but once they found it, Hanzo offered the ring to Jesse. 

“Thank you, that will help me zone him in a bit more.” He accepted the ring and admired it for a moment before his gaze went distant, glassy. Hanzo looked up at the map and at the airports just west of where they were in Kathmandu, and the just over a handful of airports west. After a minute Jesse’s gaze went back up to look back at the board. The ring was in his left hand that hovered near the board, and he then pointed to an airport around the everest area. “Tenzing-Hillary airport, that seems like a good bet from here.”

“We’ll probably be in town for a day or two, but that should be easy to book a flight.” Hanzo commented and dug into his bag for a small seeming makeup pot full of a dark transparent substance. While by the wall with the map Hanzo unscrewed the lid of it and placed some of it in a familiar pattern behind his ear as he muttered under his breath. Words Jesse couldn’t decipher right away, as if the air itself distorted what he was saying. Once it was revealed it was a spell, the demon didn’t try reading into the words and just simply waited till the ritual was done. 

“Language thing that you had in Egypt?” Jesse inquired once he saw Hanzo screwing the lid back on. “Quite bold doing it in a public place.” It was a tease and Hanzo rose his eyebrows at the comment but rolled his eyes. 

“Not all of us are naturally fluent in most, if not all, earthly languages.” The retort held no heat, and he put the contents back into his bag, where his dragons sauntered and slipped into the bag with it. A curious glance was thrown at Hanzo, who zipped the bag most of the way and shrugged in silent reply. The dragons could do whatever the hell they wanted, only the supernatural could see them, and who would come up to someone and ask about two dragons?

That aside, the two followed the signs back to the ticket counter, and purchased two tickets to Tenzing-Hillary airport, or as the person at the desk said instead, Lukla Airport. They managed to purchase the last two tickets for the day, they would make it on the flight today if the weather held up, or early tomorrow morning if the weather didn’t. The person explained that it tended to get foggy or rainy on the short trip to Lukla, but the weather had been proving to be good the past few hours. 

They prayed the weather would hold up for the rest of the day, flying out tonight would help them keep. They walked away from the ticket counter with confirmation that Jesse ended up tucking into his pockets. 

“Better keep your fingers crossed we can make that flight, that is if you want to get rid of me as fast as you’ve been saying.” this was commented in a whisper and he got a side glance in return. Their eyes met for a few long seconds before Hanzo elected to look away. Those enchanting whiskey eyes were truthful, so honest. 

“When I said that I wanted to get this done as quick as possible, it was the truth.” The comment earned a small tsk from the demon, but Hanzo looked back at him as they turned a corner. “It was me hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, and the experience i’ve had are vastly different from i was thinking what would happen...Minus the desert.” The last comment earned a small laugh from the handsome demon beside him. 

“I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment, or as a thinly veiled insult.” For a moment Hanzo almost didn’t notice that it was a joke until he saw the small tilt in the corner of McCree’s mouth. 

“Do you want it to be an insult? I’d be glad to give you one free of charge.”

“No thank you, I think we can do without insulting each other.” The two of them found a place to sit themselves around the area of their gate, hoping they would make it to Lukla before the weather caught up. 

“Insulting each other at this point would be making a few steps back.” Hanzo admitted, unzipping his bag slightly and watching the spirits slip from the gap in the bag and floated between them. 

“Close, very close,” Momo purred and floated around both of them. Hanzo’s eyebrows rose and he watched the dragon, Maron settled on Hanzo’s shoulders after a few loops. 

“Closest you’ve been since you started,” Maron added on. 

“No, since King’s Row Maron,” Momo corrected and settled on Jesse’s hat, settling along the brim. 

“King’s row?” McCree inquired leaning up against the wall they were near. Thinking back, Hanzo let out a sigh. 

“I had to go back home, I was two days behind Genji when a deadly disease hit Hanamura, and I needed to help create cures. Genji was still alive and I couldn’t let the others die from my neglect.” The reply was quiet. 

“What disease?” Jesse implored, matching Hanzo’s tone. 

“Its one of the limb rot variant disease, green strain, the one that spreads really fast.” He replied and brushed the dust off his pants, a distraction, there was no dust. 

“Ouch, that can take cities out in a matter of two months, and i mean the big ones. Its a good thing that you went.” 

“I was going to be asked, i was barely informed in time, many people almost died, but between the other magic family and I we figured out a fast acting cure. After that we helped enchant limbs for people who came to us for business.” There was a note of finality in what was said, one that seemed to bar the conversation from going any farther, and Jesse respected that boundary. 

There was no conversation from there, Jesse sat there with his hat over his eyes “sleeping” while Hanzo worked on crossword puzzle he had in his bag for idle times. Lets just say it rarely got touched. 

As time wore on there was a bit of nervousness on if their flight would make it today, and as the hours ticked by the more skeptical Hanzo became. Those skeptical thoughts proved to be wrong as their flight was called, Jesse stirred from where he was and started to get up. Hanzo followed suit and they made it through the gates mid-afternoon to their flight to Tenzing-Hillary, or Lukla airport. 

This flight seemed to make Jesse more nervous than the first one did, but maybe it was because it was a much smaller plane. Regardless, Jesse sat in the aisle seat and his leg jiggled with nervous energy. 

“We’ll be fine,” Hanzo mutter the phrase in his native tongue as he carefully placed a hand on the other’s knee. The other was still very warm, warmer than the air around them. It should have caught Hanzo off guard, but it didn’t. 

Jesse was surprised by the gesture and looked over at Hanzo before giving a nervous smile. “This is a small plane,” Jesse seemed to blanch a bit more at the comment and Hanzo rubbed his thumb on the inside of Jesse’s knee. 

“It is but its just like the last one except maybe a bit louder. If something does happen there are a few spells i have prepared to help break our fall.” He tried to reassure the other and stopped short as the pilot started to speak. 

Despite the talking Jesse shot a glance over at Hanzo and muttered, “I’m not to sure that you having spells prepared is too reassuring.” Hanzo paused, obviously confused before looking over and seeing a small nervous smile on his face. It was a joke. 

 

“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” Hanzo replied breezily before the plane started to kick into gear. As the plane lurched into motion Jesse’s warm hand was set on top of his, a motion that spoke a thousand words. 

The plane ride went along with only a bit of turbulence, but they had made it to their destination with only frayed nerves. Once on the ground he could hear Jesse muttering under his breath a few feet away as he grabbed his bag from the plane. Once he had his possessions back, he walked over to his companion. 

“We’re very close, where your brother is, is north...east of here.” Jesse commented, Hanzo not noticing that the ring had been on his right hand middle finger. The sight of it made him a bit angry, but something he had to soothe. It was helping them find his brother and he’d much rather know his brother was okay then have a ring his brother either forgot or abandoned. 

The thought of Genji so close seemed to almost fill him with a sense of excitement and dread. It had been so long since he had seen his younger brother, how much has he changed? Did he even still care about him after everything with the family?

“It will probably be a hike there,” Jesse’s comment broke through the haze of thoughts and finally Hanzo looked over. 

“I would be surprised if it wasn’t.” He commented as they made it to the airport building where they went through the check ins. “I assume you’ll lead the way there.” 

“What do you take me for? Of course, plus it should be an interesting hike.”

“I hope your cowboy boots are made for hiking.”


	6. Chapter 6

Hanzo ended up being right. After getting everything in order at the airport and getting a map of the local terrain they set out to make it to where his brother was. Two hours in Jesse had to stop to take his shoes off. After a bit of arranging, they gave the demon another pair of socks and came up with a back up plan in case he still hurt after that. 

“I should have maybe asked for some sneakers,” Jesse reflected, adjusting the hat on his head. 

“We didn’t know that it would be hiking across a mountain side to where my brother is.” It was true, usually Genji’s mindset was more straightforward, but off the trail could only mean that he didn’t want to be found, or he was looking for something. 

“At least i can say that I was in Nepal now.”That statement caught Hanzo off guard and he shot the other a confused look. 

“With all of that time on your hands you have never gone and explored different countries?” 

“A few but something has always brought me back home, I don’t mind it regardless.” Jesse dismissed the question with a shrug. 

“A home body then?” Hanzo more stated then asked, but he got a nod of reply. 

“Yeah you could say so, I never really strayed away from home for a while there. New Mexico was all I knew up until a while back.” The comment was relaxed, his voice faintly echoing in the valley and mountains around them. “Where did you visit before your search for your brother?” Jesse didn’t seem to want to take that question sitting down and Hanzo let out a soft hum. 

“For business it was mostly Korea, China, and the United States west coast besides obviously all around Japan.” Jesse had given him some information, he figured he would give some back since Jesse gave him a nice nugget of information without being prodded. 

“Jeez, that sounds like a lot of travel.” Jesse seemed impressed.

“It was mostly business, I didn’t get to do anything fun while there. It was mostly “there is the building this is what we do, this is a good deal, this is a bad deal, and that’s how you run a business.” There was a bit of silence, the last of the words echoing again in the valley till they disappeared. 

Then there was a chuckle and Hanzo smiled softly and looked over at his cowboy companion. “That is the most dumbed down version of learning to be a CEO i’ve ever heard.” 

“Don’t worry, i felt as bored listening to it as dull as I put it.” Hanzo rebutted with mirth and tucked his hands into his pockets. 

“It definitely seems like it, then again I’m not really one for that large and in charge role.” Jesse commented and Hanzo couldn’t help but look over at the other and let out a hum of contemplation. 

“You seem like someone who is more in charge of themselves then someone who is in charge of other people. Though if you were in charge of others you would probably treat them fairly.” Just from assessing the other from the past few days he didn’t see any sort of resentment or cruelty in Jesse’s action, he was very laid back and went with the punches. Even when Hanzo wasn’t being too favorable to him he was very flexible, didn’t let it get under his skin. 

“That’s awfully nice of you to say, thank you.” The acceptance of the words was fluid but put a smile on the demon’s face. 

"There is no need to thank me, it is only the truth," Hanzo replied just as quickly, though after a moment he wasn't sure if he would regret it later or not. No matter they continued their stretch of gentle incline before the mountain would inevitably get steeper. A handful of minutes pass with the crunch of rocks under their feet when a question came to mind to fill the peaceful silence. 

"Are you sure that where we are headed is up the mountain, or over the ridge?" He wasn't told how this worked or how Jesse knew where his brother was at all. He glanced over at the demon who was lagging slightly behind, a crease between his eyebrows before glancing up looking a bit surprised at the question. He kept that look on his face for a few moments before averting his gaze. 

"Just a part of me that can track it very well." He commented dismissively, not answering Hanzo's full question. Though after this they would only meet once or twice till Jesse took up on his offers, so he didn't need to know. It wasn't like anyone would get a contract with Jesse to hunt him down, he was sure that if Jesse liked him enough he wouldn't allow it. He hoped that they would leave on a positive note, but at the beginning of the contract he wasn't even hoping for that. 

"So kind of like instinct?" Hanzo implored, "or is it something you need to focus on?" There wasn't a reason why he was prodding in particular, but he could also be shooting in the dark at the wrong thing. He kept looking ahead though and squinted at the silhouette of a few animals in the distance, interesting to see, even if it was getting to late afternoon at this point. 

"A bit of both, something i focus on for a while, but after that its just a little tick in the back of my mind tugging me in the right direction. I'm pretty sure its at the top of the mountain, but that's another day's hike after this if the weather is nice." Jesse explained, a good enough explanation for the curious wizard. "You're pretty nosy," Jesse mused, causing the wizard to glance back as the dragon climbed up his shirt. His brown eyes gazed down at the dragons before back at his American demon, THE American demon. 

"You have been the first to so boldly say it." He commented with a small smile coming to his face as he turned away, his foot slipping a bit on some loose rock. He stumbled and caught his balance, looking down the deep cliffs below them and let a sigh silently through his nose, his arms falling to his sides from where they were previously. It would be a long fall, and he was sure that even his magic wouldn't shield him from all the damage that it would do. 

"I'm surprised, you don't exactly hide it well." It was the truth even though Hanzo didn't want to admit that it was. He was being way more involved with Jesse than he had with anyone else he had been in prolonged presence with previously. After some thinking he figured it may be the stigma around the cowboy, the mystery that begged to be cracked, only for the answers to be at the mercy of the person who owns the mystery. Something he was taught never to do, never to get involved with people you have business with, but here he was asking the attractive male behind him question after unnecessary question. 

"If this bothers you I will stop," those weren't the words that he wanted out of his mouth. He would have much rather admitted that this was abnormal than acting as if this was a normal for him when it obviously was not. The silence that followed it was just as unnerving as his statement. Instead of waiting for the answer he focused on the feeling of the dragon's claws digging through his shirt and scratching up his back as they made their way back up his shirt to make it to his shoulders, probably to cuddle with him and fall back asleep. He focused on the dirt and rock underneath his foot, the trees around him, the things he could possibly say to Genji when they met up. 

"It ain't no bother, not many people ask questions is all." The dismissal of his comment was a knot that untwisted in his gut, but the pressure didn't lift. He glanced up at the sky before he pulled out his phone and glanced at the time, no signal, no time. 

 

"We should probably make camp soon," the switching of topics was sudden, and he shoved his phone back into his bag before looking back at the sky. "We probably only have a few hours left of sunlight." 

"Or we could continue like we did in the desert," Jesse countered casually and Hanzo shook his head. 

"I need to rest, its been a long day Jesse, there is no need to be too eager, especially in a terrain we don't know." He wouldn't take no for an answer, doing what the did in the desert was way to stressful on his body, he was already running himself ragged. 

"Okay, but if we are going to do that we should do it while it is still light out," the comment was reluctant, as if Jesse didn't want to quit hiking just yet. Though Hanzo was only human so what Jesse could do with his stamina and how long he could walk was vastly different than even a human in peak physical condition. 

"Yes, make a fire and eat something, there is no tent but i am sure we will be just fine without one." This comment caused a few grumbles from the dragons and reluctance as they dug their claws into Hanzo's shoulders to show their displeasure. Hanzo grumbled under his breath and grabbed at the biggest offender of the two and pulled him from his shoulder and tossed him ahead of them and towards the valley deep below

"What the hell-" the squawk from Jesse made almost make the repercussions worth it. Hanzo looked away with little interest and continued to climb as Jesse stopped dead in his tracks seeing the spirit plummet out of sight. 

"This place will do just fine as a camp," a little grouping of trees just off the path was Hanzo's target as he flopped his bag at the base of one of the trees. A rumbling snarl came from deep in the valley, echoing off the walls that caused every hair on Hanzo's arm to stand up. 

"Quit being a baby you started it Maron, your claws hurt my physical body remember you stale noodle." Hanzo retorted bitterly but with a small smile on his face as a large dragon flew out from the valley and rushed Hanzo, who didn't even flinch as the open maw of the dragon was inches from where he was standing. The dragon rumbled threateningly and Hanzo rolled his eyes. "At least you can fly, I wouldn't have done it otherwise." 

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Jesse asked more defensively as he carefully approached the two of them. The comment caused the stare off between dragon and host to stop and the small dragon on the shoulder grumbled at Jesse with a small threat and leapt off Hanzo's shoulder and towards the larger scale sibling. 

"Maron is just mad at me that I threw him into the valley for shredding up my shoulders trying to make my shoulders a comfy pillow that they aren't." Hanzo explained and took some fire making supplies from his bag, but paused to pull down the collar of his shirt to show Jesse the deep scratches. 

"Was throwing him into the valley necessary though, you could have just tossed him off you."

"I have tried it, trust me it never gets my point across even when I do it this way. I just resign to more extreme measures until they understand that my mortal body can't take as much damage as they assume i can for their comfort. Hosting them is strain enough on me and they know it." Hanzo tossed the supplies where the fire would go before he looked over and searched around for something. "I am going to look for some big fire wood, you can come with or keep an eye on camp." The offer was obligatory, regardless of what Jesse did he would find enough wood to keep the fire going through the night. 

"I will go with you, your angry dragons can keep an eye on your bag and it's contents.” Jesse obliged and Hanzo nodded. There was quick glance around before they headed to a cluster of tree and Hanzo looked at the branches on the ground while Jesse glanced up at the canopy of the trees. 

There were some branches that laid on the ground dead, wind or storms knocking them off the tree they belonged to. Hanzo lifted up the branches and other wood that they would need for the fire. Jesse joined in on gathering the wood after a moment. If branches were too big, they would break them into more manageable pieces. Between the two of them it only took ten minutes to find enough wood for them to be satisfied with, and they headed back to where their camp was and where their fire would be. 

"I can watch through the night when you rest, I don't need to." Jesse offered with a soft huff as he set the branches down under the tree adjacent to the tree that had Hanzo's backpack under it. 

"If you could that would be fantastic and don't be afraid to wake me up if we are going to get attacked or if it seems like it is going to rain." Hanzo commented and glanced up at the demon before back down at the little tent he was making with the kindling and branches. 

"If i may ask, why do you want to be woken up before it rains?" He implored and scooted a bit closer to the fire when Hanzo went to rummage into his bag. He didn't glance up from his bag as he answered the question. "Because us getting wet isn't something that will benefit either of us in the long run, so I have a spell that will make it just slide right off of us." When Hanzo did look back at Jesse, he leaned down as if to reach inside and did. He placed his finger on the kindling, and after a moment it started to smoke, then flame erupted and started the fire. Jesse scooted away from the fire and glanced over at Hanzo, their eyes met before the demon looked away. 

"Okay," the reply was simple but Hanzo couldn't help but think that there was something wrong, but he didn't think he was entitled to ask what was wrong, it was probably something really personal he didn't want to say to someone he's only known for half a week. He wouldn't push it. 

The evening was filled with quiet contentment, they split the food between them, and relaxed from what had transpired earlier. 

"You really don't like planes, do you?" Hanzo commented while laying down, trying to fall asleep. 

"You also hate sleeping, don't you." The retort was quiet and smooth, a bit of mirth in the undertones. There was a minute of pause. "With you it wasn't too bad, if it was alone and I would have panicked the whole flight." 

"Company always makes it better," Hanzo agreed. 

"Go to bed, you'll be crabby if you don't." Jesse chided with a small laugh. 

"Don't tell me what to do," Hanzo snipped jokingly, but did end up falling asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

The sun was barely cresting over the mountains when the distinct ache of his back and a shaking at his shoulders woke him up. A few bleery blinks before his gaze went from the dull rock and dirt under his shoulder to the familiar sight of McCree. A small smile was on his face seemingly because he had just woken up and stood up, the warmth of the hand on his shoulder he found that he missed. In the wake of the warmth was the brisk cold of the morning. 

"You slept harder than I have seen anyone sleep in a long time," the comment was calm, quiet in the still morning air. The fire was still going, a small stack of wood and branches left by where Hanzo remembered Jesse sitting the night before. The other had to have make another trip through the trees to get more wood if the fire was still going, or it was the stack from earlier but it could be an ability of his to keep a fire going. Hanzo didn't know, and it didn't matter. 

"Well I am surely going to regret it through the rest of my day today, and maybe the next week." He groaned and got up to his feet to stretch out his sore muscles. He felt a few pops and shifts in his shoulder, a noise that made Jesse flinch. The ears on top of the other’s head twitched and caused Hanzo to glance over curiously. The other had taken a more of a half shift werewolf form, ears on the top of his head and his canines longer than usual. It was an oddly charming look on him

"Well we should get going if we want to make any headway, if we are lucky we will make it there by the end of day today or beginning of the day tomorrow." The comment was reassuring though it implied that there was still so much left to go. It was something Hanzo was willing to do for Genji, either that or they would get into a fight like they had many times before a few years ago.

Maybe this was all a mistake and Genji didn't want anything to do with him, and him seeking out his brother was for nothing. Maybe he was just bringing too much trouble to his brother and that he should go back to Hanamura and let him come home as he pleased. 

He wouldn't take it for an answer until he heard it from Genji's mouth. Jesse getting any sort of energy reading off of the ring told him that he was still alive, even if he was bitten by something and cursed he would still love his brother. Though it could also be something that took his brother's body and they were just chasing another exorcism. 

"You're thinking loud enough to wake the wildlife, what's on your mind Hanzo?" He blinked and stared at his bag for a moment, the words the demon said soaking into his brain before it truly registered to his body. 

"Just a few doubts, nothing you have to worry yourself with." He dismissed smoothly and zipped up his bag after grabbing what he had wanted from it. He slung the bag over his shoulder and opened a bottle of water. He took a drink from it before he poured it over the dying fire. Smoke billowed from the wood and the flames died a quick death, leaving only the wet smouldering remains. Once that was done Hanzo capped the bottle back up and partly unshouldered his bag to put the bottle back in. 

"Well that's one way to do it." Jesse commented and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he looked around. "You ready?" 

"Yes," Hanzo confirmed and they glanced over at each other briefly before Jesse took the lead and lead them further up the mountains. The path right from camp was a gentle incline that would be a more winding and steep path later if what he saw in the distance yesterday was any indication. Today it was hard to see anything, the valley was draped with a thick layer of fog and they could only follow the path and go off of what they remembered yesterday. Of course Jesse tracking his brother's "energy" helped immensely as well. 

"You seemed awful twitchy in your sleep, that normal?" The question surprised him and he blinked before shaking his head. 

"I thought what you meant by sleep hard was that I didn't do any of that, I misinterpreted. Yes, me being squirmy in my sleep is normal, but it is better when i'm not on a dirt floor too." 

"I think everyone else is the same way, a bed tends to be the most comfortable place to sleep." Jesse ribbed and adjusted that ridiculous hat on his head. 

"I beg to differ, when my brother was younger he really liked car trips, he would talk about where we would go for ten minutes then crash until we arrived. He's always been like a cat, can sleep any position and seem very comfortable." It was hilarious documenting his brother's various positions, and it got way worse when he'd come home from a party drunk. Their father would chew him out for drinking under age, but that never stopped him from still doing it. He was always there to take care of his drunk brother when he would come home, mostly because he would get woken up by him, but it was the least he could do. 

"Sounds nice, I have had a few drunk experiences with a few friends of mine, but do you realize how hard it is to get a demon drunk?"Hanzo rose his eyebrows at the comment but smiled slightly. 

"I guess i am not going to go against you in a drinking contest any time soon cowboy." He replied back and for the first time of the day, one of the dragons made its appearance. It gave a glare at Hanzo before scampering down his arm and leapt onto Jesse, which startled the other and he whipped to look at the small dragon. 

Hanzo rolled his eyes and looked at his arm as he looked back at the dragon climbing onto the other's hat. "Is this the fella that is mad at you?" He asked and pointed a finger to the brim of his hat where the dragon was laid out. 

"Yes, his name is Maron, and this is typical for one of his fits." There was a soft snicker, Momo's head popping out from his sleeve before hiding again. 

"Why is he with me, if I may ask." He inquired and stepped over a large rock in the middle of the road. 

"He doesn't like being around me when he is mad, and this happens every once in a while, but the past few times he hasn't had other people to cling onto so he'd just isolate himself for a few days." The explanation was longer than it needed to be but the dragon's behavior was often odd, and it was a miracle that he got use to their antics. 

"Well maybe if you didn't throw him off a cliff he wouldn't be mad at you." A cigar was lit and Jesse took a puff of it after finishing his statement. The statement earned a small look, but nothing that was too accusatory. Instead the demon fell into step beside him and gestured with his left hand, the one with the cigar. "Besides, they are spirits I am sure he will get over it once he sees Genji again."

It was a good point, they both loved Genji, but maybe they would be more happy to see Soba then Genji. The dragon was like a brother to them, so talking over what happened the past few years would undoubtedly ensue. 

"I wonder what runs through that constricted brain of yours that makes you so nice to people who are mean to you." He commented, a tease and Jesse gave him a look. 

"Constricted?" He nearly squawked. "My hat fits jus' fine thank you very much." He took another puff of his cigar after that and Hanzo chuckled. 

"Or maybe I am wrong, maybe it is too big for your head, seems like your hair is the only thing keeping it on." He snickered and Maron gave him a tired look with one eye open. 

"Now you're being all mean," Jesse commented with an accusatory finger pointed at him. Hanzo rose his eyebrows at the comment and shook his head. 

 

"I am only joking with you, you're hat suits you," Hanzo replied with a small chuckle. "If i was truly trying to insult you I wouldn't comment on your hat." At the comment Jesse seemed to relax a bit before giving him a curious look. 

"I don't know if to take that as a compliment or as another insult." Smoke blew out of the other's nose as Hanzo shrugged

"Take it as you will," he dismissed the conversation and rubbed his forehead. In wake of the conversation, Hanzo noticed the area around them and that there was a slight chill to the air. It was almost winter there after all, very late into fall. They picked probably the worst time for travel or just the right time, but either way it was before the snow, and the bite in the air told Hanzo that it was close to the first snowfall of the year. Hanamura got the same chill in the air around the first snow. 

"You cold at all?" Hanzo asked and felt Momo crawl around on his clothes and burrowed into the collar of his shirt. He shivered at the sensation of the cold dragon on his skin but let them be. 

"Eh, I have been colder, but it is chillier than i like." Jesse replied with a vague gesture of his had, cigar smoke trailing where he gestured. "I'm more worried about you freezing to death than me though, you're only human." He commented and casted a glance over at him. 

The both of them stepped over a log and for a moment Hanzo didn't say anything. So the other did realize how fragile a human was, but he couldn't help but feel a bit belittled. The limits to the human body getting in the way of what he would want to do. This was a familiar bitterness that welled in his chest. One he got on long stints without sleep and working on something to get it done. Something that came with a lot of thinking, too much Maron often said. 

"Don't worry so much about me, I can handle myself just fine." He forced those thoughts out of his head and tried to swallow the bitter feeling. 

"I know you can handle yourself but from what i can tell from the few days we have been in company, you wear yourself out." Jesse took a drag from his cigar again, letting what he said previously brew in the silence. "I know a lot of other people who do the same thing, it isn't healthy regardless of what you are." He could feel those burning amber eyes on him, but he didn't acknowledge the gaze. 

"I have always been like this, something taught I could never quite get rid of, even with outside help. It is just something I will have to change about myself in due time. It could change a few months in the future, or thirty years into the future."

"You have never shown that you want to change it, you have to admit that much. Not doing so would make you a liar in your own defense." Hanzo knew it was Momo speaking up, but they didn't move from where they were wrapped around his arm, instead soaking in the warmth from his clothed body. 

"I never said I was changing it now," he argued back with no heat, and Maron simply sighed. 

"And you wonder why we worry about you young master, you will make yourself sick doing this." Hanzo shook his head and sighed. 

"I don't need to have this conversation now, I hear it enough to know exactly what you are going to say." He replied and had to look at Jesse so he could cast a gaze at the small dragon. 

"Then why don't you try and change to help alleviate the worry of everyone around you?" Maron continued to press with a rumble and Hanzo started to get defensive. 

"Because besides you two there is no one else around that cares, and my death is convenient for you so it wouldn't be any skin off your teeth if I worked myself to death." Hanzo replied with a neutral tone, but a chill to his voice that made the dragon on McCree's hat bristle. 

There was a shift of energy in the air and weight on Jesse's body as four clawed arms braced themselves on his leg, hip and shoulders, translucent blue covering his vision as there was a deep rumbling growl that sent vibrations through his body. The actions halting their advancement up the mountain. 

"Do not speak as if you know what we want pup," Maron snarled and with a glance back Hanzo had an angry sneer on his face in defense. 

"then how about you tell me honestly what you want then instead of dancing around it as if it will solve anything. Be brief with what you demand so I can get on with fulfill it." 

"We do not demand what you do, only that you take care of yourself, why don't you recognize it. You're just as stubborn as your grandfather was." Maron rumbled and shifted his weight again on Jesse. 

"How about we keep hiking and hold this conversation later, because your claws are a mite sharp there buddy." McCree interjected."There is no reason to have this conversation in the first place Maron, quit being stubborn." Momo commented, their head poking out from Hanzo's sleeve again. "Regardless of what we say we will have this conversation again, and there is no way you could die from such a fall even as a spirit, quit being an old man." At the last two words Maron bristled up but took his smaller form and perched himself back onto Jesse's hat, brooding. 

"Are they always like this?" A question from Jesse that had Hanzo pausing for a moment before he realized it wasn't for him, but for Momo. 

"More than I would like them to be that is for sure, but hopefully as they both mature it will change." Momo soothed and her tail wiggled against Hanzo's bicep, obviously amused. "You're the most mature out of you three, but don't let that get to your head. There is something around here obviously more knowing."

"You're getting that feeling too?" Jesse asked and looked up the path. "I've been getting that feeling all morning, and I can feel that we are getting close to where your brother is." The mention of it had Hanzo perk up subconsciously. 

"How close would you say?" He implored looking at the foggy valley around them. He was hardly able to see a thing besides a few yards in front of them. 

"Very, to the point where it is very easy to lead the way over to him. I would say by the end of the day today we should be there if we run into anything that may delay us, otherwise we should be there mid-day." The comment relieved Hanzo but also made him anxious. 

Hanzo was never told by his brother that he wanted to go to Nepal, so it made him curious on why he would seek out Nepal, let alone deep in the mountains. What was his brother chasing or seeking to find. Hanzo wouldn't understand until he asked his brother, it could be knowledge of magic or simply sightseeing, but he couldn't think of anything besides that on why his brother would be here. 

Genji was always someone who wanted to be the center of attention or took the convenience of the city for granted. Later that mindset would lead to a neglect in of his arcane studies. Not that it mattered much to Hanzo, he was too focused on other things during Genji's teenage years. He wasn't too caring back then either, he wished their mother was around so she could have given his brother the kindness he deserves. 

Hanzo lurched forward, breaking from his thoughts and he stumbled to recapture his balance. His heart pounded and he barely managed to catch himself before he looked back and saw that there was a fallen tree in the way and he let out a soft puff of air. 

"You okay? You seemed pretty distracted." Jesse asked and turned to face him. A soft breeze was carrying the hair that was peeking from the brim of the hat, the breeze stirring his clothes and barely catching the rim of the hat. 

"I'm fine, just thinking of my brother." He dismissed the worry and straightened his back. "The wind seems to be picking up, so hopefully this fog will start to thin, I can't see a thing around here." He tried to segway the topic to something else and he did so with no grace. 

"You think of him a lot, he must be very important," Jesse didn't take the bait, instead he continued on the topic Hanzo didn't want to talk about. 

“He’s the only family I have left,” he wouldn’t get into the details of his extended family, they didn’t matter at all. He blocked them out of his life years ago. “I didn’t care for him when he was home and I realized mistake possibly too late.” Hanzo’s tone was curt, the comment clipped and gave off the impression that he obviously didn’t want to talk about it. 

“Well I hope he gives you an opportunity to mend fences now.” The reply was simple and oddly sincere, and he looked over at the demon. What he had assumed from Jesse in the beginning was very wrong, and he was surprised at such kindness that could come from a “corrupt” being. 

“Thank you Jesse,” it was something he didn’t do often, but he never asked for help often either so he never got enough opportunity to thank people. 

“I wouldn’t have gone along with this if I didn’t think you were going to do something bad, but I am surprised at how quickly this is going along.”

"How do you know that I wasn't going to do bad?" Hanzo implored hearing the call of an animal echoing through the valley, a noise along with the wind and the birdsong filled the air so it wasn't just still silence. The noise in the atmosphere put him at ease, telling him that nothing nearby would be a danger to them. 

"Just from how you carried yourself, you seemed very serious, and not everyone is serious about finding their brother if it is a lie." Jesse commented breezily, as if it was the easiest thing for him to find out. It surprised the other just a bit, was he really that honest looking with his intentions? "Not everyone is going to be the same way, I know that much, but I am glad that my instincts on you were right from the start." The American looked over and grinned at him. 

"How do you know I'm not going to backstab you the first opportunity I have?" He implored and looked over at the attractive demon with an eyebrow raised. 

"I can handle what you throw at me if you were going to back stab me, but you seem earnest about finding your brother. You just don't seem like that type of person." Hearing that from someone else was almost like a sigh of relief, but Hanzo instead adjusted his pack and let out a small hum. 

"Would it surprise you to find out that it was not always like that?" He inquired following the sharp right deeper into the mountain pass Jesse made instead of skirting along the edge like they had been for several miles now. 

"Not at all darlin', I've been there and done that too." Their conversation when on like that for a while, having in depth conversations while dancing around the actual meaning behind each of their comments. It was a way that made Hanzo feel like they knew each other, yet not getting to know the gritty details they didn't want to dive into. On the way they took a small break once for Jesse to adjust his boots and soothe his feet from the ache that the footwear brought to him. He made a claim that after dealing with this next time he planned to go to a mountainous region he would bring hiking boots. 

It was late afternoon when the small stone path markers introduced them into a small town amidst the towering mountains of Nepal. There were plenty of people out, children running in the streets, people running errands, and others selling wares or simply making a trip into the street for god knows what. Before they entered the town, Jesse dropped his werewolf guise and became what appeared to be just any other person. 

The town was very small and seemed absolutely peaceful, such a serene atmosphere caught him off guard, but even if Hanzo paused it doesn't mean that it stopped Jesse because it didn't. When the familiar brown brim of the hat and larger silhouette entered his vision did he lurch into motion and walked to catch up to him. 

"Where in town are we headed?" He asked and looked around, spotting the tall peak of a type of temple on the other side of town. 

"He's very close by right now," Jesse's eyes darted around and skimmed each and every person or group of people near them. The demon's upper body is tense and he his eyes slightly narrowed. Those whiskey eyes held an unnatural light to them as he looked around. 

"There are a lot of people here, I wouldn't be surprised." Hanzo comments quietly and lets his gaze carefully sweep the people in front of them.

"This is a monastery town, odd," Jesse itched at his arm before halting in his tracks completely, causing Hanzo to slow down hesitantly, it was then that the other demon turned around and he simply stared in one direction. 

"Did something catch your attention?" He asked and turned to see what he was staring at. He too froze when he saw what the other was looking at. He too froze when he heard a familiar laugh and he honed in on where his brother was, looking vastly different than he did a few years ago. From the side he could see that his black hair was still there but that is where the similarities seemed to end. His skin was a cool blue-grey, short red horns poking from his forehead and near his ear on his jaw, a few red swirls went along with it, and sharper teeth starting to curl from his upper lip. The laugh was the same, the face structure was the same, but Genji was an Oni.


	8. Chapter 8

There was only a few explanations on how this could have happened to his baby brother, but the only one that stuck in his mind was that he was possessed sometime in his journey, and had been for a few years. He pulled a dagger quick from where it was sheathed under his clothes and he brandished it in his hand but still had the hand poised behind his back. 

"That is him, though he looks a tad different than i had imagin-" Jesse cut his words short as he stepped into Hanzo's space, catching the shorter male's hand just as he almost threw the knife at his brother underhanded. The knife almost seemed to appear in his hand like magic and he could feel the quivering in the other's hand. 

Their eyes didn't meet but Jesse stared intensely into Hanzo's expression. So many expressions clouded those dark eyes, but the expression of grief seemed to emanate most from him. 

"That is your brother, I don't sense anything in his body but purely his energy. There is a bit of tampering on the edge, but i know that type of energy. You just about stabbed your brother." Jesse hissed and grabbed the blade with his hand, a bit of his black blood welled along the blade before the whole knife turned into sand and fell through his grasp. 

These actions didn't go unnoticed by Hanzo's brother. The other looked surprised in their direction, catching the gaze of a tanned magical being beside him, though that gaze was more curious than surprised. 

"Hanzo?" Shock was evident in his voice, but there was a slight passing of worry in those dark crimson eyes of the Oni. 

"Genji," Hanzo addressed almost as if he had recoiled quickly to regret the action he almost did a moment ago. Sand filtered through his hand and he took a few steps forward. With a small wave of the hand the sand turned back into a knife and Jesse pocketed the weapon before following behind Hanzo. "What Happened to you Genji?" he implored now totally concerned for his younger brother, the person who didn't hesitate to approach his brother despite the fact he almost threw a knife at him. 

Something halted Hanzo the moment Jesse caught up, and his muscles ceased too, but it was an eerily familiar one from only a few short days ago. Blue and red magic swirled into violet, a bell ringing before the loud pop of the ethereal chains between them. The magic then all surging into Jesse's body, with only a small fraction entered into the back of Hanzo's hand. It was as if a weight was put back onto his shoulders. Something that seemed to drag exhaustion with it. 

"Who is that? Why were you contracted to him?" Genji seemed more suspicious about Jesse than his brother, but that was a given. 

"That is the person that helped me follow your trail here, I was so worried on where you went to." Hanzo seemed to brush away the question. 

"What do you owe him for him helping you?" Genji didn't drop the subject and looked at his brother, a firm concern that really should have been the other way around. Hanzo seemed taken aback by this and shook his head. Genji's gaze was zoned in on Jesse, those crimson eyes growing darker as he assessed the other demon. Jesse didn't let the other think he was intimidated by the his gaze, instead for a moment his eyes flashed with their natural hue. Two amber eyes, the right one with a streak of bright read down the center, a black streak down the center of that. Though it was only for a moment while Hanzo's back was turned before they faded back to a whiskey color. In that moment Genji seemed to slow realization, but before he could act on it Hanzo took his attention. 

"For helping me find you, I owe him a few favors that don't involve souls or sacrifices." He replied and then reached out and hugged Genji. For a moment there were no questions and hesitantly Genji hugged Hanzo back. 

"What about the family business?" He implored and Hanzo gapped for a moment. 

"I shut it down, refunded people, that was national news, I thought you would have eventually caught wind," there was a pause and Hanzo took a step back to look at his brother. "With the money left I opened a small shop in Hanamura." Genji shook his head. 

"I thought those were hoaxes, i didn't believe you would actually do it." He commented totally surprised and Hanzo scoffed. 

"I said I would before you left, didn't I?" Hanzo implored and glanced at the small green dragon that slithered out of his brother's wide sleeve. Almost immediately both Maron and Momo were leaping onto Genji's arm to tackle Soba. 

"You did," Genji admitted, "though I didn't believe it and I just thought you were saying that so we would leave on good terms." He commented and Hanzo scoffed. 

"I hated the cons just as much as you, even if I didn't show it."

It was almost as if a lightbulb went off and Genji took a step back and gestured to the lithe monk standing beside him in yellow and red clothing. 

"I forgot to introduce, this is Zenyatta, a monk who lives here, and the person who brought me back to life after an unexpected turn of events."

"It is nice to meet you," Hanzo bowed at the same time Zenyatta did. "Thank you for watching out for my unruly brother. 

"Oh no, it is nice to meet you, I have heard lots of stories."

"Not all of them must be good, you have some time on the pair of us, so you have probably heard it all." Jesse commented and Genji gave him a discreet glare and Zenyatta chuckled. 

"I know of Genji's flaws that is for sure." Zenyatta said amused before nudging the other. "We should go into the temple, you two have a lot to talk about."

"I will bring Hanzo with but I don't trust the other demon." Genji said, not afraid to say it in front of Jesse and that caused everyone else to frown but Jesse who held a passive expression. 

"He has don't nothing bad to me Genji, I trust him with my life." Hanzo defended much to Jesse's and Genji's surprise. 

"But I don't know what he will do now that he isn't contracted." Genji argued. 

"There is no evil intent on him Genji, you are fighting a moot point." Zenyatta said pointedly and nudged his shoulder. "I have seen more evil intent on you the first few minutes I met you than I see on him right now, so I would trust him in the monastery and around your brother." 

There was a long silence before a huff of annoyance, "fine." Genji gave in.

The trip to the monastery was full of talk between Genji and Hanzo, commenting on the way they took to get to Nepal and the other countries they had visited. There were a few comments on where Hanzo took a few missteps in Genji's worldly travels in tracking him. Though the comments about the ring and scarf being left behind had pulled an excited reaction from Genji. In a rush to get out of town, Genji left them behind in a rush. 

The monastery was large and impressive, the furnishing were basic but sturdy and probably made around the village or in other nearby villages to help the income. The ceilings were high and each room just as impressive as the previous room, all around it was a very impressive place and left Hanzo speechless. 

"I assume you like your tea like you did a few years ago?" Genji inquired when they entered a different room. 

Hanzo smiles softly and nods, "I haven't liked my tea any other way." he replied and Genji chuckled. 

"Is Black tea fine master?" Genji asks looking down at Zenyatta. Zenyatta nods and looks at Jesse. 

"Would you like some tea too?" He offered because it was obvious Genji wouldn't. Jesse grins and shrugs. "Just a glass of water please, I ain't much of a tea person." This caught Hanzo off guard, it was a lie, Jesse had tea back in Japan just fine. 

"Aye aye captain," Genji replied before walking out of the small sitting room they had found. Hanzo's bag was set between a side table and the chair he was planning on sitting in before he decided to sit. The three dragons were in their smaller forms in the middle of the room still curled around each other like the best batch of curly fries. 

"Since we will be leveling with each other, and I know what both of you are, I am a Djinn." Zenyatta commented once the door was shut and looked at Jesse then Hanzo. "You don't have to worry though, right now the one "in possession" of my abilities is your brother for one more wish." 

"There aren't many of you around from what i have heard," Jesse commented and leaned back in the chair, his legs crossed and obviously relaxed or making it appear he was. Zenyatta nodded and looked glanced at his lap before back at Jesse. 

"And there isn't anything quite like you from what I have seen in my many years alive I can assure you." Zenyatta could see Jesse's true form and Hanzo looked in the direction of his former contractor and saw a neutral expression, a perfect veil of what he was feeling. 

"I have been told that by many people," the comment was curt and Hanzo frowned slightly and nudged his bag a bit more to the side with his feet. Jesse hadn't given him an inch on what his true form was, but it was only polite not to push it. It was also obviously a sore topic for him.

"I hope the weather on your way up here was treating you well, it was between two stints of bad weather, so you came at the perfect time." Zenyatta commented and had yet to sit down, instead he went to the window and pulled them open to reveal the early evening sun on the snow capped mountains all around them. 

"It was a bit foggy this morning but at seems to have been a problem for only me." Hanzo replies for them and Zenyatta nods and walks away from the window. 

"That can be a pretty common occurrence but it tends not to bother us of supernatural origin or becoming. So you probably couldn't see much this morning." 

"Only a few yards in front of me, but I wasn't too worried because I wasn't leading us through the mountains." Hanzo assured and looked down as claws lightly scratched his skin as something traveled up his leg. "Oh, so you decide to finally greet me Soba," he says with a smile as the green dragon all but launches itself at Hanzo and rubs against all the bare skin available to their touch. "Yes hi Soba, I missed you too." 

Though the green dragon still with Genji told him that it wasn't a natural death that is what possibly brought on the demonic transformation. He rubbed his finger against the dragon's horn until it grows in size and weight and successfully cuddles with him and pins him to the chair. There is a small snicker across from Hanzo, knowing it was Zenyatta and he lifted his arms up as Soba got comfortable. 

"He doesn't do that often," Zenyatta comments and there was a click of the door opening up. Genji strode in with a small tray of tea cups and a small pot of tea. He pause though in the middle of shutting the door and stared at what his dragon was doing to his brother. 

"Anija, how have you been resting?" Genji questioned and walked farther into the room, handing a tea cup to Zenyatta before walking the short distance to hand the tea cup to Hanzo and water to Jesse. 

"Just fine, Soba probably thinks that I haven't been because i was on a bad stint when you left." Hanzo assured despite the small snort of disapproval that quickly followed after Maron. 

"Have you been having "those" again." Genji asked as he went back to the one empty chair and sat down. Hanzo rolled his eyes and scoffed. 

"Not often but this isn't about me, I think you said that you were going to tell me a story." Hanzo diverted the attention back to what they were actually going to pay attention to. Genji paused for a moment and nodded, he blinked a few times like he did when he was thinking really hard before the oni appearance started to melt away and Genji's old self appeared again. 

"Four years ago I was cursed by someone in the clan that I would slowly turn into a demon. I couldn't go to anyone in the clan or I would get killed because the elder could easily spin lies about my condition and everyone would believe it." Genji started and already Hanzo was surprised. "It was to show how much of a demon I really was, just in a human skin. He claimed and it was a spell strong enough that not even dad would be able to reverse it. It was something dad hadn't learned and it was in a book ancient, burned right in front of my eyes." Genji continued, his gaze down in his laps, his legs slowly made it onto the chair crossed in front of him. 

 

"After a year the side effects started to show more and more, to a point where I knew it wouldn't be easy to disguise it, so I disguised my search for the curse as a trip to see the world, become more worldly. A way to get out of everyone's hair the elders probably thought. I tried everywhere, the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, the Nordic countries, Italy, Egypt, Greece, anywhere anything was slightly mentioned they may have a cure." Genji gestured widely for each country and he then sagged and shook his head.

 

"It lead me to here in Nepal but I came at a time when there was a bunch of demons trying to find a great source of power hidden in the temple, a hidden room, and it was devastating. At this point my energy could blend in with the demons, so I could infiltrate as one and stab them all in the backs. That path lead me to the secret room, where the boss was searching and searching for something. I ended up "helping" him and I found it before him, the moment my hands touched it the magic came to life, and I was gutted by the boss. I was bleeding on ancient artifacts, silks, rugs, art, books, anything that had been tossed around in the room in a rampage." Genji pulled up his shirt to reveal a deep red score mark from the middle of his ribs down to just past his belly button. The Scar tissue was an angry grey and red, never to be fully disguised by his human skin.

 

"Zenyatta ended up being what they wanted and on the brink of death he had me agree to his contract, and as my first wish he brought me from the brink of death. That brush with death though sealed the curse, and I was left with the skin of an Oni, and the slowly forming powers of a newborn. It was so uncontrollable at first, with the dragon and the abilities my blood gained as a demon was just too much for my once human body. Zenyatta helped me control it though, my second wish going to my wish to never have a corrupt mind from what I thought was right from that point, spanning from when i was born to that point in life." He then opened his arms and looked at Hanzo. 

 

"That is the story," he dropped his arms into his lap, "I am sorry I worried you, I didn't know how you would react." Hanzo didn't honestly know how he would have reacted either, his instinct from early only told him that he would have reacted badly even back then, probably even worse than he did now, and he shook his head slightly and sighed. 

"I can't say with confidence I would have reacted badly, but I am glad you didn't totally exile me from your life Genji." The cup was on the side table, barely touched with the giant green dragon still wrapped around him. "Though you still can if you want to, I'm not telling you what to do." he commented and ran his hand down Soba's flank. 

Genji snorted and rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't have told you the story if I didn't care Hanzo, I would have told you to get out." Genji defended and uncrossed his legs. "You look like a mess though, do you want me to show you to the bathhouse so you can relax. You look like you slept in a pile of twigs." 

"Its because he did," Jesse commented and set the empty glass of water on the table. Genji furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Jesse then he looked back at Hanzo. 

"Don't make a big deal out of it." Hanzo defended before he started to nudge Soba. "You can cuddle me later Soba, but for now I think you need to worry about Genji. There was a small growl and Soba constricted tighter around Hanzo. 

"Soba come on, he will be here a few days, he will rest during his time here where we can watch him." Genji soothed his dragon but also pulled the spirit off of his brother. 

"I have always wondered why those things can keep him in a chair and why he can't get up, but I suppose it is that the dragon's energy is in you keeping you in the same plain of existence it has weight but also keeping most of you in the plain you belong." Jesse observed but stood up as well. Zenyatta followed suit, and after a bit more coaxing, Hanzo was standing up and grabbing his bag. 

"I would love a bath," he confirmed and Genji grinned. "Great let me show you the way," Genji guided his brother out of the room, the tea hardly touched. There was the soft closing of the door and silence in its wake. 

"My job is done here, I don't want to be a burden." Jesse commented and picked up the once empty glass and showed it was now full of sand. Zenyatta nodded. 

"No goodbye?" He inquired and caused him to pause halfway with the cup of sand. 

There was a pause, an expression passed on Jesse’s face. Something soft and caring all too warm. "It will hurt more if I do," he replied simply and tossed the sand onto the floor. The grains skittered on the floor till they formed a teleportation circle. 

"Well it was nice meeting you and I think we will meet again." Zenyatta offered and Jesse smiled slightly, tipping his hat. 

"If the stars align," he replied and stepped into the circle. With a flash of red light, the sand and Jesse were gone. 

Take care of him.


	9. Chapter 9

It was an unusual storm in Hanamura, one that poured rain and caused his dragons to be absent from the house. Lightning flashed out the window rapidly and the deep rumble of lightning was the only noise, the room lit dimly by a lamp on the chair side table where Hanzo was resting, a novel in hand, and a half of a cup of tea steaming under the lamp light. 

A particularly close strike of lightning shook the house and caused the lamp to flicker and Hanzo glanced up from his novel to look outside. He smiled slightly and shook his head before looking back down to what he was reading. The storm had been anticipated all week by the meteorologists and Hanzo could feel that the storm would be worse than they predicted it would be, and behold, it was. The clatter of hail started on the windows and that is what prompted Hanzo to stand up and pull the curtains open more. 

Through the patter of hail he almost didn’t hear the faint ring of a bell downstairs. Who would request service at this hour especially in this storm? Unless the person was seeking refuge then he didn’t see why anyone would request his services until the morning. Regardless he headed down the stairs and through his shop and unlocked the door with a few easy twists and opened the door. 

Lightning flashed in the air along with a reverberating boom as Hanzo cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips slightly. A man that was soaked to the bone, had dark wavy hair, captivating eyes, and that same dumb hat on top of his head. The natural tones in Jesse’s skin was a silhouette against the dark blue sky and torrent rain. The lightning strike making the red in his serape stand out and reflect in his eyes, but the full beard was something new and suited the other well. 

“Could have given me at least a goodbye Jesse McCree.” They were the first words uttered between them, dull stabbing words that brought a small awkward smile out of the other. Hanzo’s expression didn’t change from the passive neutral it had started as. Talking about not burning bridges between them and he just leaves without a word, though he would ask an explination before he’d get too mad again. He was very mad ten years ago when he was told that Jesse left. 

“Nice to see you too Hanzo, may I come in?” 

“I don’t know, I didn’t think you would wait ten years for your favors.” The comment held the same tone but Hanzo stepped aside and let the demon inside his home. “Let me get you a towel so you don’t drip everywhere. Your coat can hang in the closet off to your right.” Hanzo retreated towards the kitchen in the back of his shop. There was wet shuffling of clothes and Hanzo assumed that it was Jesse taking off his coat. 

Under the sink was a few beach towels he had just in case something spilled over during potions. Of course they were washed and clean, otherwise he wouldn’t give them even to a demon, but he was sure that any magic left in the fabric, if there is any, he can handle. 

He emerged from the door to see McCree just where he left them, serape removed from his shoulders, and hat being dripped over the doormat hanging on a peg to Hanzo’s surprise drying off. Regardless Hanzo went over and handed the towel to the demon despite the temptation to just throw it in his face instead. 

“Thank you,” he said with one of those charming smiles before he started to wipe himself down with the towel one handed. “I see you’ve renovated the place,” Jesse commented and glanced up at Hanzo with those deep, burning eyes. He had to look away and nodded. 

“Genji took one look at the place during Christmas and insisted i make it more convenient for customers and myself.” He commented and crossed his arms. “After some persuading I decided to take his advice, but it took two years for him to convince me.” 

Jesse continued to dry himself off, though Hanzo knew his clothes couldn’t get dry all the way. “I can get you a change of clothes so we can dry your wet ones.” He offered, mostly because wet clothes were very uncomfortable. 

“I would appreciate it if I could change clothes.” Out of Jesse’s button down and jeans with that awful belt, that was another new thing. 

“After you get changed we can discuss your visit.” That was a priority conversation but as much as he wanted the other to leave he couldn’t let him track water all through his house and shop more than he already is. 

There wasn’t a wait for a reply as Hanzo turned on his heels and walked back towards the stairway Jesse should be familiar with. There was the soft shuffling of feet on the wood, indication that Jesse did have manners and took off his shoes at the doorway. 

A flight of stairs later exposed the dimly lit living room, and once upstairs, Hanzo indicated that he would be right back, and he made his way into the back spare bedroom. He went to his dresser and went to the bottom drawer where old clothes or oversized clothes Genji left behind stayed. For once Genji perferring sleep pants that almost fall off of his hips would work in his favor, especially since they had a drawstring. Those stayed in his hand along with a very baggy band t-shirt from when he was 18 that was still way too baggy. He wouldn’t supply the demon underwear though, that is where he drew the line. 

Unwilling to overthink his selection, he exited his room and shut the door behind himself. “You can change in the bathroom.” He commented and set the clothes on the vanity of the bathroom as he passed the room. “I will be out here when you are ready.” Taking the hint, Jesse walked to the hallway as Hanzo made it into the living room, their shoulders barely brushing but that same warm aura was around Jesse, the one that reminded him of being curled under the covers on a cold winter morning. 

Shivers went up Hanzo’s spine and the hair on his arm stood on end as he made it back to his chair. He sat down and first took his cooling cup of tea and took a drink of the lukewarm liquid. Once he had his fill of it, he set it aside and braced himself for what the other may want. 

He honestly didn’t know what Jesse would want, he thought they had ended on good terms, but apparently not from how he had disappeared while at Nepal. Though Jesse did lead him to Genji and after staying a few days in Nepal they both mutually decided to start talking again, and his brother had promised to visit. It seems that they were both nervous on what each other would think, and in the end neither of them cared deep down because they were family. Genji was getting use to his body with the help of Zenyatta’s guidance. 

The storm was starting to quiet down, the hail had stopped but the rumble of distant lightning and thunder continued. He opened his eyes and looked over to his propped open book and marked the page with a worn scrap of paper before closing it and setting it towards the back of the table. There was the creak of the bathroom door a few minutes, enough time for Hanzo to mentally prepare himself. He looked at the hallway and saw Jesse Emerging shirtless with the shirt in his hand. 

“The pants fit but the shirt is just a bit too tight around the neck and shoulders.” The reply was nonchalant and once in the living room he set the shirt down on the coffee table. Hanzo didn’t reply, he looked at the other and couldn’t help but admire how that tan skin wasn’t a farmer’s tan but continued and how deliciously toned he was. That wasn’t the point though, he instead waited for the other to say what he wanted, an eyebrow raising in silent question. 

For a long minute nothing was said before Jesse took a few steps forward towards Hanzo’s chair but stopped halfway. “It seems you want this short and sweet,” Jesse started and tucked his hands into the pockets of the sweatpants. “I need you to make me an arm, like your legs, but ones that can fit my needs.” The request had Hanzo drawing his eyebrows together in confusion as he looked at the other and saw his two arms. He was going to speak up on the randomness of the matter, if it wasn’t for the fact that his left arm faded away to show a stump where he knew the flesh use to be halfway up his forearm just below the elbow. 

Instead of asking what he wanted to, he looked back up at Jesse and asked what he needed to instead. “What do you need this arm to do besides be probably fire proof?” Jesse rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. 

“Be able to transform with me between my true form, half form, and human form.” The reply was more clipped than it was usually for Jesse, something bitter in that tone that caught Hanzo very off guard. 

“Why don’t you go to someone who is an expert in prosthetics, I am no professional by any means.” Genji had to get a right arm prosthetic from him with two form shifting abilities, but that had taken him close to a month to figure out for him, but then again that was the whole arm and a brace on the chest, not just from the forearm down. 

“I don’t trust any of them, they’d rob me blind and only do it half-assed.” He replied with a sigh and he dropped his good arm down to his side in defeat. “I don’t care how long it takes Hanzo, I just know that you will do your best.” This was true, people would feed money into magic prosthetics and not know anything about magic, therefore getting ripped off by their seller. 

“I will try to get it done as quick as I can, but I will probably need to get some supplies if I am to try, my brother ran me out of most of it two years ago, and I haven’t needed to go back to get the supplies since.” He replied and sat up in his chair. “With the notes from Genji’s own arm, with a bit of research and experimentation it could take me a few weeks to finish this.” Hanzo warned and drummed his fingers on his thigh. “And I will need measurements from all three forms, otherwise this won’t work.” Jesse wasn’t very good at hiding his displeasure at the news. 

“What type of supplies do you need?” There was nothing said about the shifting, but nothing really needed to be said. 

“It really depends on what material you want your arm to be.” The reply was easy. “Metal is the hardest to work with while things like wood are more easily enchanted and workable. That is at least for me, i know there are plenty of other people that can work metal like wood.” 

“Is there a way where it could be wood in some parts, while in other parts it is more of like… a brace or armor for the wooden arm?” Jesse sat near him on the couch and Hanzo let out a small hum. 

“That isn’t something I have done before, but it is something I am willing to try.” He agreed alibet reluctantly. “Will you be staying in Hanamura the whole time you are waiting for your arm?” 

“Can’t do much without it,” Jesse commented, a small joking smile that fell from his face a second later.” Hanzo nodded and took a deep breath before standing up. 

“You don’t have to tell me how it happened, but you look tired Jesse.” He commented and grabbed his tea cup. “After keeping that up for so long i bet you need rest.” This time a more genuine smile came to his face and he nodded. 

“Thank you Hanzo,” Jesse said and stood up as well. Hanzo didn’t need to let Jesse stay here but there was just something that urged him to let him stay, even if he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. 

“Let’s consider it part of your first favor from me, you did a lot more than our contract for me.” He replied and dumped the tea down the drain, rising out his cup and setting it to the side. “Let me show you to the guest bedroom.”

“Thank you darling.”


	10. Chapter 10

Sleep didn’t come for Hanzo that evening when Jesse slept. The storm and the energy from the dragons kept him awake along from the caffeine from the green tea. With this energy there was only so much reading he could do before he had the urge to get to work. 

Of course there was spells to find and supplies to line up and make a list of what he will need more of. This in itself took a lot more time, mostly because he couldn’t remember most times what spell was in what book and often times had to look through two or three books he assumed the spell was in. Looking through his own notes helped him remember the process and create what he needed for the base start, that was when he got the wood and metal to form it into one solid piece that looks like Jesse’s arm. Though the beginning formation would be the tricky part. 

Near the early morning was when the storm started to die down and a familiar weight settled along his shoulders. He didn’t need to say anything because he had no time to. 

“So he has returned,” Momo purred and laid in their smaller form along his shoulders while Maron sat on an empty edge of his desk. 

“Yes, he’s claiming one of his favors for me to give him an arm that he lost.” Hanzo replied distractedly, his eyes scanning a spellbook as he held a few small vials in hand. 

“Are you going to try and urge him to stay like you want to?” Momo continued to push with an easygoing purr and Hanzo rolled his eyes and went to measuring the potion. He got that portion into the mixture before he spoke up. 

“He is his own person, his made his intentions clear ten years ago.” Hanzo replied with a purposefully neutral tone to his voice. “Can you tell how long he will be asleep?” He inquired, changing the subject. 

“He should wake up tomorrow, he’s deep asleep now, but I don’t suggest bothering him in his sleep regardless.” Maron spoke up before Momo could and electricity crackled between his horns. “It seems the prep work will be easy to get done with the only distraction being the store.” 

“It opens in four hours I will have plenty of times to get the potions ready, but getting wood and metal will be the harder part. I need to purify the metal and get wood the natural way otherwise the potion will burn through the material.” He had to do the same with Genji, but his brother gladly picked out the wood of his own limb, Hanzo wasn’t so lucky with Jesse considering he was asleep and the fact he didn’t know the area. 

“You haven’t slept tonight though too, at least take a nap.” Momo changed the topic as well, she kneaded his shoulders in emphasis, he was just happy that it was without claws. “I”m sure if you ask the family down the road they will have fallen wood and you can use some of their since you exchange supplies all the time and have given more than you have taken. At least the daughter knows this much.” 

That was true, he had given them a lot of supplies in the last ten years he had procured that they needed in a pinch. In return they boosted him a bit seeing how good his potions and products were, and they still traded supplies too. They had become good allies even as more larger commercial magic companies came into Hanamura trying to scheme people out of their money like his family use to do. More often than not those companies didn’t last longer than a few years before closing shop and moving on. 

“They always have natural wood somewhere in their workshop.” Maron agreed and hopped down from the bench. “Just try to get some rest tonight Hanzo,” He urged but didn’t stop as he phased through the door and made his way upstairs. Momo ended up taking Maron’s previous spot and watched over what Hanzo did. 

When demons were tired they really did sleep but they didn’t need to rest that often, so it made some sort of sense. Regardless Hanzo continued to work and bottle up the potions, setting that stuff away and bottling it up when it came time to open, and he cleaned up his workspace before emerging from the back room and walking to the front door to unlock and indicate he was open. 

One opening of the door let in a gust of frigid fresh air that had Hanzo pausing to take in with a deep breath. For a moment it almost seemed to take away the smell of potions, but he flipped the sign and shut the door to pull open the blinds on the front of the store. He scooted the front closet shut and it locked shut with a light blue magic pulse. From there he spotted the hat hanging on the coat rack, dry and as ragged as ever. Carefully Hanzo couldn’t help but pick it up in curiosity and looked it over. Jesse seemed really attached to the thing and it definitely looked old. 

He held onto the hat and walked into back and towards his front door. He opened the door and nimbly made his way up the stairs. Maron was laid out by the fireplace, the flames dying slowly from being neglected. He only gave it a passing glance as he headed down the hall towards the guest bedroom. 

“I wouldn’t bother him young master,” Maron interrupted before Hanzo could open the door. He turned to face the old dragon in their medium size and put a finger up to his lips to quiet the other. With little hesitation he opened the door as quietly as he could and stepped in silently. There was heavy breathing and a lump amidst the tangled covers on the twin bed. The bed was tucked along the far wall near the window. 

Slowly, with baited breath, Hanzo walked across the wood floor with careful steps so his feet wouldn’t make any loud scuffing like when he would tiredly shuffle around. (The scratch marks on the wood floors were never spoken of). Slowly he made it to the side of the bed and carefully set the hat on the open space beside the bed. Jesse didn’t stir from where he was and continued to sleep. 

Of course Hanzo couldn’t help but peek at Jesse’s sleeping figure, it looked different somehow. The first thing he noticed that was very different was his head, there were large curled ram horns on his head that were large and seemed very heavy. His head was tilted at a slightly weird angle to compensate for the large horns, but that was the biggest difference besides spotting the black fingers curled in the comforter and the teeth that barely showed from his parted open mouth. His human features were still primarily but this brought up questions of what was Jesse’s true form? It was obviously a sensitive topic, did Jesse hate it? The horns were strong and beautiful, though now he understood why Jesse was sensitive about the hat fitting topic, no doubt it didn’t fit with his horns. Regardless, in this form Jesse was just as alluring as he was in his straight human form, with a lot more mystery to drag people in than his human form. 

He shouldn’t be thinking those thoughts, Jesse wasn’t interested. 

Jesse stirred and Hanzo’s heart leapt into his throat as the other turned in his bed and Hanzo took the queue to make his expeditious retreat. He held just the same care in walking out and shutting the door as he did entering the room, and it closed with a soft click. He glanced at the living room where both dragons were now sprawled along the whole length of the couch and then some curled together. 

Hanzo pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time before he headed back towards the shop. He shouldn’t have left it unattended even though he had done it many times before. As he headed down the stairs he saw a text he had gotten from Genji. 

Good Morning, We should be in Hanamura come Tuesday morning. Zenyatta said I should warn you ahead of time, how lame. 

-G

They’d be arriving in four days. Hanzo rolled his eyes and tucked his phone back into his pocket as he grabbed the house keys from the hook near the stairs and tucked those into his pocket too before he pushed the button lock and shut the door behind him. He heard the stiff click of the lock engaging. He peaked quickly into the shop and saw no customers yet and decided it would be a good time to brew some tea before heading back to work on Jesse’s arm. 

Around noon was when the customer flow started to pick up from just one or two people per hour. Late enough in the morning for people to get other errands or chores done before heading into town. He would get another rush before close in the evening for those people who need to grab something after work, but that wasn’t the worry. Instead he helped people with potions, wards, advice, and planning other appointments to help someone with a haunting, a curse, or likewise. 

When the rush calmed down he called his handful of appointments for the next two weeks about he may be a bit late or early with time due to something that will be keeping his attention the next few weeks. He knew most of these people and ended up getting teased more than once about it possibly being a lover which he debunked with a small laugh. 

Once that was done and he helped another customer, he got a bit of time to work on the arm and got to the point where the first half was prepared for, the part before and during the first stage. Making a transforming prosthetic for three phases would be a lot harder than with just two, but it should be the same basic procedure, or at least he he hoped. Then again it depended on how large or small Jesse’s other form was, because he could only let the material get so big before it wouldn’t flex to fit the arm. These were all things Hanzo was working on figuring out on sheets of paper. The once neat desk quickly was strewn back into chaos with the research of the prosthetic. Online sources, written ones in his many spell books, all of them didn’t give a good enough source. The best one was someone who made a magic limb for a person infected with lycanthropy and switched through three forms, but all of the details were very vague. It was more of a story than an informational article on how to replicate it. They probably did that on purpose to get more traffic for their business, hiding their solution from the trade. 

The shop bell rang and Hanzo was forced to tear his eyes away from the article and leave the warmth of his back room to greet and help the customer. 

He didn’t expect it to be the daughter of the magic shop down the street again, they had been over last week to borrow a dried ingredient. “Haru, what brings you here today?” He asked, adjusting the bug his hair was in, before dropping down to his sides. 

“I came over to see if I could go into the backyard of your shop and grab a branch of two of the cherry blossom tree, we need it to help with another enchantment.” She asked and he let out a hum. “Does it matter if it is fresh or old?” He inquired. 

“No, i don’t think it matters at all.” She commented crossing her arms. “I haven’t seen Genji around lately, how has he been?” They had seen Genji come home a few years back and he had to hide what he really was from them, from everyone in Hanamura really. They had done so successfully so far. 

“He’s coming back on Tuesday but that is tentative,” he commented and started to walk back towards his shop. “I have a few branches in here, one, two?”

“Two,” she agreed and Hanzo went back into a supply cabinet and grabbed two medium pieces of twig branch for her and walked back out. 

“Thank you Hanzo,” she said with a small smile. That reminded him, the wood. 

“Oh, Haru, do you have any naturally dead wood like a thick long branch or a log? I don’t have any any need it.” She put her free hand on her hip and clicked her tongue, gaze going to the floor before shaking her head. 

“I don’t think we do, we are repairing our shed and that has put everything on hold.” She replied and looked to Hanzo. “I’m sorry,” he waved it off though. 

“Its fine, thank you for taking it into consideration.” She nodded and gave a bow before exiting the shop with branches in hand. 

The rest of the day went quickly, getting hardly anywhere with the research, and helping the steady trickle of customers in and out of the shop. The evening arrived quickly and promptly at 7pm Hanzo closed shop and headed upstairs to make dinner and relax after wracking his brain over such a matter all day. 

He unlocked his house door and swung the door open, quietly shutting and locking it behind him again. He almost sagged in relief as he climbed up the stairs and headed straight for the kitchen, ignoring the living room entirely. 

“You look awfully tired there darlin’,” a honeyed voice commented from the living room and had Hanzo pausing before he opened the fridge in slight confusion. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be resting up Jesse?” He inquired and pulled open the fridge to see what he had available to eat, he wasn’t in the mood to cook anything, but he may have to with company. 

“Not much I can do if my body wants to wake up before I feel rested.” Jesse replied, his voice coming closer. 

“Well you can try to cat nap while you’re here to get your energy back.” Hanzo offered and grabbed the pork cutlets from the fridge. They could have tonkatsu tonight and miso soup, but he had to double check if he had enough dashi. 

“That isn’t usually how it works, but it is worth a try.” Of course it would be more difficult than it had to be, slowly Hanzo was realizing that being a demon didn’t go without its faults, much like being human. 

“Does tonkatsu sound okay for dinner?” Hanzo inquired and looked over his shoulder and finally at Jesse. The other looked disheveled, hair a mess, still in the pajama pants, and the hat, surprisingly not on his head. 

“Sure, I’m not picky so I will eat just about anything,” the reply was with ease and a smile was on the other’s face. 

“Tomorrow evening I should bring you to Rikimaru, or Genji may want to do that.” He debated and took out the ingredients he would need for dinner, seeing that he had just enough dashi for miso soup. 

“Rikimaru?” There was the slide of a chair against the ground, Jesse must have pulled up a bar chair. Hanzo nodded and closed the fridge, grabbing a pan and a pot, setting them on the stovetop before grabbing two bowls as well. 

“A ramen restaurant that my brother and I use to go to when we were younger, before he left to go travel.” He replied and started to tenderize the cut of pork loin he had in the fridge. He had it on a cutting board and covered it with plastic wrap before he started the process. 

“Sounds interesting but maybe you should wait for your brother before we go.” Jesse spoke over the pounding of the mallet. That was a good idea, Genji may get mad that they go to Rikimaru without him. “The beard looks good on you, but i didn’t expect you to be graying already.”

Hanzo snorted and stopped tenderizing the pork in favor of starting to heat the vegetable oil on the stove. “My line of work isn’t exactly an easy job.” He commented and pointed a finger at Jesse. 

McCree gave a small nod and leaned against the counter, “Its just not what i expected, then again I didn’t anticipate waiting this long either for your favor.” All hanzo did was hum at that as he continued to make dinner. 

“Didn’t have anything to ask for?” He inquired yet didn’t look up from the food. “You know you could have come and simply visited if you really wanted to, but then again it isn’t really your type of weather around here.” He reasoned though his voice was a bit tense. 

“After leaving like I did I assumed I wasn’t welcome, at least after leaving like I did.” The voice was smaller, something that had Hanzo pausing as he dipped the breaded pork into the oil. Not for long, he placed the Tonkatsu in to cook before he started on the miso soup. 

“I know that you have talked with Genji at least once.” Hanzo stated, Genji had told him. At any mention of Hanzo Jesse would ask how he was, but any time his brother told him to visit Hanzo he only said “maybe.”

“I didn’t quite know if your brother was trying to pull a prank on me on saying that you wanted to talk to me only for you to kick my ass.” The comment pulled a snort from Hanzo. 

“You probably have that same easy trick my brother does of knowing the shape of a teleportation circle, using some sort of material and just disappearing. Its annoying.” He huffed. McCree grinned slightly. 

“It is only to the place we consider home,” Jesse explained, the chair creaked under him and Hanzo put the tofu in the dashi warming on the stove. After doing that he quickly checked on the tonkatsu. 

Genji considers this home too? That surprised Hanzo and he nodded in reply. Thinking of that reminded him of the project. “I will need to get the measurements of your other arm in both forms so I can start getting the measurements for your prosthetic.” He mentioned and glanced over to Jesse. He saw the pain that crossed over the demon’s face before it was covered. 

“Do you have to?” He asked quietly, almost vulnerable. 

“I do, it is the only way to make it fit and shift with you.” Hanzo replied, mixing the miso paste into the soup. There was a heavy exhausted sigh behind him. 

“Well that’s one way to get me to go back to sleep.” He grunted and stood up. “Can I go out on your porch and smoke?” 

“Sure, ashtray outside by the sliding door.” It was an old chipped up glass one, but the few times he needed to smoke, it was a godsend having it around. 

“Thank you,” there was the softer shuffle of Jesse getting up from the seat and walking out of the kitchen.


	11. Chapter 11

Dinner went by quicker than Jesse probably would have wished, and he could tell from the way the other ate slowly, deliberately, and would drag on conversations that Hanzo gave him an inch on. He spoke in the same way like when they had first met, with vague words and not going into detail, yet still carrying the conversation the best he could. Eventually Hanzo had to put an end to it, and cleared the table. 

“We should head down into the shop to do this, there is more space down there.” He commented and picked up all the empty dishes. “If we do this correctly, it will be quick and we don’t have to speak of it directly again.” He commented and walked to the sink and set the dishes down in the basin to be washed later. 

“That isn’t what I am worried about,” Jesse resigned with a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, looking towards the stairs. After a few moments it was obvious he wouldn’t elaborate on what he truly was worried about. With a small sigh through his nose, he lead the way down the stairs with Jesse hot on his heels. There was a tension in the air that wouldn’t go away, and Hanzo knew it wouldn’t even after doing the measurements. That was fine though, Hanzo could deal with the tension, he did so a decade ago. 

Making it into the shop was easy, Hanzo walked into the back to retrieve an old sewing tape measure, a pen, and stray piece of lined paper and came back into the main room to see that Jesse hadn’t moved from his spot. 

“We will start with your normal arm,” he commented and tucked the pencil into his pocket and tossed the paper onto the floor. “Please expose your arm so its full extended to the side.” He requested, not quite stepping into Jesse’s personal space yet. It took a moment but Jesse did as he asked and after a moment of giving Jesse another moment he stepped into his space and got to measuring. He wrapped his tape measure around the arm near the elbow, at the wrist, and measured the length from stub to tip of the fingers then in increments from the wrist, to palm, and the length of the fingers. After measuring it he picked the paper up and wrote everything down quickly, muttering the measurements under his breath. 

“You’re very serious when you work, no wonder the dragons are worried about you.” Jesse commented and for a moment Hanzo didn’t let it break his concentration. Once all the measurements were written down did he stand back up. 

“I’ve always been this way,” he commented and took a few steps back from Jesse. “Genji says it reminds him of our father, while a lot of Genji reminds me of our mother.” He didn’t need to explain it in such detail but he did. “Now can you shift into the half form? I may need to take some hair samples to put into the enchantment.” He commented and Jesse took a deep breath and nodded. 

“Just… don’t freak out please.” Hanzo’s eyebrows furrowed but nodded. A few tense seconds passed before there was the protrusion of horns breaking through the skin on his forehead, his tan skin growing an almost ashen undertone. His fingers stained a dark grey almost black, his fingernails growing in length and sharpening. HIs mass also started to grow, he towered over Hanzo a bit more, looked a bit stronger too. If this was any indication Jesse would probably have to take his pants off for the full transformation. 

Finally the growth seemed to stop and Jesse kept his head bowed down, but he extended his good arm with no complaint. Hanzo took that as queue to get the measurements. “So far so good,” he hummed reassuringly to Jesse as he wrapped the tape measure around his arm and started to mutter the measurements under his breath. After another studious minute, Hanzo grabbed the page and started to write down the measurements. After quickly writing down the digits, Hanzo set the paper and pen down on the floor and reached out to the arm. 

“Is grabbing some of your hair okay, with a tweezer of course.”

“Just do it,” Jesse rumbled impatiently, his voice gaining a deep reverberation that caught Hanzo off guard along with the curt tone. Hanzo’s lips thinned with impatience as he turned on his heels and walked towards his workshop and grabbed two small glass jars and a tweezer. 

He walked back into the shop lobby and saw Jesse staring in the way of the door, pointed ears barely peeking out from under his hair and hidden mostly by his horns. 

“What?” He inquired gently grasping the other’s arm and tweezing some of the hair, keeping the small bunch in the tweezer till he could get it into the jar. 

“There is some bad energy in this neighborhood, but just one strong signal.” he commented, not moving or even flinching in reaction to the hair. 

“We can investigate it tomorrow night,” he replied and set the jar aside on the counter under several potions. There was a small unsettled rumble before he lowered his head and face back towards Hanzo. 

“Next transition?” He inquired dully, a quick shift in tone from the previous comment. 

“Last one,” Hanzo commented and took another step back. “I don’t really care, but if it is more comfortable you can either shred these pants and shift or save them for something to change into and take them off.” There wasn’t even a pause going into the next shift. Hanzo took another worried step back as he watched the shift happen. 

The horns curled more, and tapered off just off of his cheeks, at least one of them, the other one was chipped in half, making him a bit lopsided. His face started to distort along with the crunch of the rest of the bones in his body. Hanzo flinched against the noise as he crouched to the ground as his legs twisted. His skin went grey from the natural tans in his human form. His demon form stayed bi-pedal but his skin was grey, very few patches of fur anywhere on his body, and where fur would be were ridges of what could fool him as desert rocks. There were white splotches along his body that took him a moment to identify as scars, and Jesse was now easily. Hanzo couldn’t even identify what type of demon Jesse was, but he surely looked like a mix of a few creatures. Hanzo was sure that most of the seams of the pants were ruined completely. 

There was a rumble and it pulled Hanzo from his stupor. Jesse’s arm was already extended his direction, ears pointed in his way but his head still lowered. “I got it don’t be so impatient, that’s my job.” he muttered and started to measure the other’s arm. There was another snort and Jesse turned his face away. “I don’t know what you thought I would be scared of you, I’ve seen plenty of things, and you’re not some sort of violent being so I see no reason to be scared.” Of course that could change if Jesse wanted to change, but the other actually had a conscious, so he doubted it would ever change. 

Getting the measurements, he wrote them on the piece of paper quickly and muttered under his breath with a sigh. He then tossed the page back on the floor and grabbed the tweezer and fresh vial. He exposed the arm and saw that there was no hair to speak of on the arm, and he furrowed his eyebrows and turned it over gently. “I may need a few strands of your real hair instead, of arm hair.” He warned and carefully approached Jesse’s head. He didn’t get that far as the other flinched and ducked away from him, acting as if he wasn’t eight feet tall. Hanzo was now facing Jesse’s side, head turned all the way away from him and Hanzo let out a sigh. He could reach the hair from where he was, and reached over to do so. He managed to get a small pinch of head hair and carefully stepped away and tucked the hair away and closed both bottles. 

The crackle of bones and Jesse shifting back to his preferred form filled the air and Hanzo couldn’t take it. He grabbed the bottles and tweezer and headed back into his office. He would go and grab the paper once Jesse was done. It was easy setting aside the hair and tucking the tweezer away, but he waited a few moments to give the demon privacy. Only when the crackling ceased did he walk out of his office and see Jesse rubbing his forehead. 

“Yep, sleep sounds great about now, that gave me that sleep push alright.” He sighed tiredly and Hanzo picked up the paper. 

“You can go upstairs and rest, I should start working on your arm as soon as possible.” So Jesse could be more comfortable out of his presence. “It must be hard having lopsided horns after all.” A small tease, hoping to lighten the mood. 

“Not you too,” Jesse sighed but with a small smile. 

“No, you should rest too,” Jesse said with a yawn and he he shook his head. “I don’t think your companions would appreciate the knowledge that you will be up for another night. Its kind of obvious you were up last night, you look absolutely tired.” Jesse replied and glanced at Hanzo with a small smile. Well, if Hanzo was honest with himself he had been awake for almost 72 hours, but he would never admit such a thing. 

“Don’t you dare say anything to them,” he warned with a pointed finger as they walked back and towards the door leading upstairs. 

“Do I really need to warn them?” McCree implored with a smirk and Hanzo narrowed his eyes slightly at the other before opening the door, not saying anything on the matter. 

They barely made it to the to the top of the stairs before between them flew two grumpy medium sized dragons. “You will not stay up another night.” Maron rumbled with warning as he pushed Hanzo down the hall towards his bedroom. “You will get in comfortable clothes and go to bed, and if you resist we will make you sleep back the whole time you’ve fallen asleep.” It was a threat Hanzo knew they would keep to. 

“Did you greet Jesse when he woke up?” He asked and Momo curled around the back of Jesse’s legs and urged him in the same direction. 

“Is their greeting rumbling at me every time i move from a chair and sitting on me so I can’t move?” Jesse asked skeptically and Hanzo nodded. 

“When Genji came back I had to take them off of him, he had been expending a lot of energy and they were worried, but he can’t get comfy with two heavy dragons on him.” Hanzo replied and felt another heavy nudge that had him stumble a few more steps to his bedroom. 

“Is that what they’re going to do with you in bed?” There was a bit of humor underlining Jesse’s tone as he asked and Hanzo turned and shot him a small withered glare. 

“Probably,” Momo replied what Hanzo wouldn’t have and Jesse laughed. 

“Its inevitable Hanzo, you should just resign to your fate of sleep.” Jesse commented as if to convince him. 

“I know,” he didn’t argue the point, instead he just sighed and rubbed his forehead. “We should both get rest and be freshly prepared for this process, because it isn’t going to be an easy one.” Hanzo agreed and looked down at Maron before turning around. “Goodnight Jesse,” with that being said he walked into his room with a reply back. 

~*~

Hanzo woke up to a soft nudging at his hip. There was radio silence in the room except for the soft shuffle of the covers with every nudge. 

“Hanzo wake up, come on Anija, you’ve been asleep for 36 hours now.” A voice he was not expecting at all, and all the exhaustion was swept away from him and he sat up quickly. He turned quickly and looked at his brother, who had taken a step back in surprise. He was in his demon skin, grey skin, red horns, red and grey prosthetic arm just as he remembered it. 

“Damn it Maron,” he grumbled and tossed the covers to the end of the bed. 

“When did Jesse get here?” Genji knew Maron and Momo enough by now to know this was a semi-common occurrence, but only on days they knew Hanzo had off from the shop. 

“A few days ago, he’s cashing in a favor for me to make him a prosthetic arm like yours.” Hanzo replied and rubbed his face. 

“Didn’t mine use all your wood?” Genji opened the bedroom door as Hanzo got up and stretched, his joints popping and he let out a soft grunt of pain. 

“I did,” he confirmed and walked down the hall, the smell of something cooking invaded his senses. “I was planning on getting the wood for his arm yesterday, but I was apparently dead to the world and wouldn’t wake up.”

“Well you can take another day off and get the wood today, take a small hike, have a bit of fun with the work.” Genji suggested. Honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea, Hanzo could get to know what his brother was up to, and they could carry more wood with more people if they found more than he needed, which was often not the case. 

“I don’t see why not, as long as everyone else is okay with it, but I’d need to take a shower first, I probably reek.” Hanzo commented and stopped short of walking out of the hallway. 

“I already asked, everyone else is fine with it.” Genji assured and Hanzo rolled his eyes and snorted. 

“Of course you did.”


	12. Chapter 12

“You know you will live long after I die, and when this place becomes yours, you can do whatever you want with it.” Hanzo sighed and dried his hair off with a towel in the living room as everyone else ate breakfast at the kitchen bar. 

“Don’t talk about death with such dismissal, you still have a while before you die.” Genji defended with a cup of tea almost touching his lips. Hanzo smiled slightly and shook his head. 

“I’m already 38, ten years passed like nothing. Its not like you can’t visit me when i’m still an old man too.” Hanzo replied and pulled the towel from his head to throw a look at his brother. 

“Hanzo is right, ten human years is like nine months in demon years.” Zenyatta pointed out after finishing a mouthful of rice. “It will be like a blink and your brother will be an old man, and you will still look as you do.” At least Hanzo wasn’t the only one that was willing to be the bearer of bad news. 

“We aren’t talking about this right now,” Genji replied his face going into a very familiar frown and Hanzo’s gaze softened a moment. 

“Don’t be like that Genji, you aren’t a little teenager anymore.” Hanzo urged with a soft voice that had McCree staring confused. 

“There definitely a way to extend your life if you wanted to Hanzo,” Genji started, his expression casual while his voice held an almost panicked lilt. “I know its your life but you don’t have to settle for dying so soon.” 

“We were taught to be happy with what we accomplish in life, so even if i die today, next week, or thirty years from now, I will be happy with how everything turned out.” Hanzo replied in that same soft tone. 

“It doesn’t mean anyone around you will be.” Genji defended, his facade growing weaker. 

“Let's not talk about this so early in the morning, we need to keep our energy for other things. This can be a conversation for another time.” McCree interrupted before Hanzo could say anymore, even with how desperate his brother was getting. 

“Let's finish dinner and head out to the state park you said was the best source for this type of wood, maybe we will also find something else worth while.” Zenyatta said and stood up. “Genji, will you help me with dishes?” Wordlessly Genji walked out to the other side of the kitchen, there was an aura to the air that gave a hint that they needed time. 

“I need a smoke,” McCree and Hanzo said at the same time and McCree glanced up with slight surprise. 

“Shall we?” Jesse gestured to the porch and Hanzo nodded, leaving his towel draped on the back of a chair and followed Jesse onto the porch, grabbing his smokes from where they sat on the side table along with a book of matches. 

There was a fresh cold breeze and Jesse shivered the moment they stepped outside. Hanzo pulled a cigarette from his pack and perched it between his lips as he shoved it in the pocket of his pants in favor the match book. He was quick to strike up a match and light the cigarette, waving the match till it was out and he set it into the ashtray. 

“I guess those conversations don’t happen too often,” Jesse commented, his cigar already lit. Hanzo exhaled the smoke and shook his head slowly side to side. 

“We never liked talking about death, our mother didn’t go in a peaceful way, nor did our dad, its almost as if Genji thinks we are all cursed to die in a horrible way like our parents.” Hanzo commented with a small gesture with the cigarette between his fingers. He did that before pulling it up for another drag. 

“My family didn’t go real nice either, but i outlived them before i became what I am.” Jesse commented and flicked some ash into the ashtray. “I was lucky to have someone who showed me the ropes before i lost my mind and became something that isn’t me.” Hanzo gave Jesse a side glance while the other gazed over the roofs of Hanamura at the sunrise and mountains in the distance. This was a nugget of information that was very personal, and the most McCree had told him yet. “Its a shame when it happens but it makes you cherish what you have right in front of you.”

 

~*~

Genji and Zenyatta ended up heading towards the western side of the state park near Hanamura, while Jesse and himself headed east. They would meet at the car at noon and see if either group found anything, and if they didn’t they would go in together as a unit to find the wood. The hike with Jesse brought back many memories of back in the desert and Nepal. 

“There is something you aren’t saying, you may as well spit it out while we are alone.” Hanzo commented, looking off the right side of the path in search for stumps or fallen trees. 

“You’re acting like back when we first made the contract, as if you don’t know me, and its just throwing me for a loop.” Jesse reluctantly started with the slight adjustment of his hat. “I understand your feelings and why, but you’re still showing me hospitality, we’re still joking, I just want to know your intentions. I feel like my intentions are clear enough.” 

“Your intentions are not clear Joel,” Hanzo wouldn’t mention Jesse’s real name in public, something they clarified before leaving. “Suddenly hopping back into my life ten years later for an arm and you try to come up to me as if nothing happened? You left the moment I turned my back.” Hanzo accused in a low tone, not wanting to alarm any other possible people visiting the park. “I thought it was going to be something like a friendship once the contract was done, but I guess I was wrong.” 

There was a warm hand on his wrist and he was slowed down from his fast pace, he wasn’t even looking for wood. “You weren’t wrong but…” Jesse hesitated and Hanzo turned to face him. 

“But what? You say my signals aren’t clear, you keep trying to get close yet holding me as far away as you can too. We can’t be friends if I don’t know anything about my friend.” He spat impatiently and yanked his wrist from the other’s grip. 

There was a roil of electricity under his skin and he stood his ground and looked at Jesse, who wasn’t even looking at him at this point. He reached over and tried to grab Hanzo, looking further down the path when an arch of electricity erupted from his skin and attacked Jesse while there was an echoed roar in his ear of the dragons defending him from the back. 

Regardless of the electricity, Jesse grabbed him and tucked him to his chest. 

“Demon and the welcoming victim.” Someone hissed and Hanzo’s back tensed as he muttered something under his breath and planted his hands on Jesse’s chest and he was released while Jesse was pushed off the path and into the start of the tree line as Hanzo turned around. 

“The source followed us here,” Jesse muttered under his breath barely loud enough for Hanzo to understand. 

The people who had been helping in for so long as well as been his competition, the familiar face of Haru was across from him, sword in hand. He vaguely remembered in a previous conversation they were also demon hunters, but that was something in the past they stated. An obvious lie. 

“Is this against me for some reason?” Hanzo asked, obviously a rhetorical question. She gave him an unamused look. 

“You have let demons into Hanamura after repairing what damage your family had done, and I’m not about to let that happen. We were okay with your brother, but this repeat offender, we can’t allow it as the protectors of Hanamura.” A familiar rocket of cold went through his legs, and before he could pull them up, he was buried to his ankles in the dirt path. 

“I haven’t done anything,” Jesse defended taking a few steps closer. 

“And you won’t either.”The ground rumbled and Hanzo lurched forward and looked behind himself and saw an earth elemental emerge from the ground right near Jesse. 

“You gotta be kidding me, I've faced more fuckers like you than i’d rather in my lifetime without your bitch ass throwing another one at me.” Jesse rumbled and glared at the woman, seeing the static coming off of Hanzo’s arms before he half shifted and started to take on the earth elemental charging at him. 

“Momo, find Genji and warn him and Zenyatta of the danger, now.” Hanzo ordered and watched as the glow on his arm only dimmed slightly as Momo went to do as he said without making herself visible. This all being ordered without Hanzo having to utter a single word.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way Hanzo,” his neighbor lamented and took a few steps closer, almost lazily swinging around that sword and Hanzo let out a small hum and watched the blade. 

“I’m pretty sure there are a few more ways we could come up with, but I am legally obligated to get my demon friend back there his missing arm. Call it cashing in a favor.” Hanzo replied and he could feel his legs sinking a bit further into the dirt. A dagger slowly slid down one of Hanzo’s sweatshirt sleeves, a paranoia he couldn’t shake even when he was no longer part of of the big family business. 

“Not in this situation you don’t. Either you tell the demon to get out of Hanamura, or I kill him on the spot.” She wasn’t phased by the fight going on behind hanzo, the one he couldn’t see. She gripped her sword correctly, pointing it right at Hanzo’s heart. 

“Damn, that’s a real tough choice,” he groaned and crossed his arms, careful of the blade. “If I don’t obey this request of his then he gets my soul.” He surged backwards, feet easily coming free of the dirt and he lunged backwards and his feet skirted against the dirt and he tossed the knife at her leg in hope of getting something important, the knife in the other sleeve sliding down with a small wiggle and he gripped it in his hand. 

“Pity, I thought you would see reason,” she commented as she surged forward with the sword brandished professionally in her hands. 

“I thought you would never poke into my personal life too. He said and lowered his stance. There was the faint roar of a dragon through the forest and that barely registered in the back of Hanzo’s head as he ducked out of the way of the swing and stabbed her in the side right near the heart where her arm was extended, between the ribs and yanked the knife out and disengaged. 

She howled in pain and fury as she whipped around to cut him again. She managed a long superficial cut on the outside of his leg, but it was more than he had wanted. He ducked away from her third attack and stabbed her in the side and with a harsh yank brought it around to the back, electricity coursing through his arm and into her flesh through the knife. 

She crumbled to the ground, clutching her wounds as Hanzo turned to the earth elemental and threw his dagger at it, summoning Maron to soar along with it, feasting on the soul of their enemy. 

 

He saw Genji running towards the fight, the surge of energy of Momo entering him, he didn’t see Zenyatta but maybe that was a good thing. Relief flooded Hanzo and he took a step forward. 

In that moment Hanzo cried in pain, white hot agony running through his left side as a sword pierced between his ribs. The faint furious shouts of Genji registered before he started to cough, the force of the sword being yanked from his ribs causing him to fall to his hands and knees. He knelt there on the ground and coughed, heaved till he coughed up blood. 

A deep angry rumble reverberated through the ground as he felt the surge of Maron in his body, but he couldn’t do anything about it as he gasped trying to staunch the throbbing wound. He looked over to the right and saw that it was just a log, she made a decoy. 

Suddenly a warmth enveloped him and carefully pulled him off of his hands and knees and rolled him onto his side, the sun being blocked by the large body. He looked up and saw that it was Jesse, full demon form, blocking the attacks from the earth elemental that was crumbling apart, and shielding him from the fight between Genji and the girl. 

“You okay Hanzo?” The deep rumble of Jesse’s voice was comforting and he let out a small laugh, only to cough afterwards. 

“Not really,” he wheezed and looked up and met Jesse’s eyes. He stared into the two amber pools, one eye with a streak of red through it, as if the perfect eye was stained with blood. That wasn’t it though, there was also something unsettling about his eyes, something that imbedded fear into him, the dawning realization that death was inevitable. 

“You’re okay Hanzo,” Jesse cooed before grunting and flinching against an attack on his back. “You’re going to be alright, you’ll live through this, we just need to get you somewhere safe where Zenyatta can heal you.” 

“He didn’t come with Genji,” Hanzo murmured and he tried to take a breath but was stopped short with another soft cough. 

“You’re losing too much blood from your leg and the stab, you need to save your breath darling, can you do that for me?” Jesse asked but he could already feel the energy draining from his body and he didn’t respond for a moment, instead his thoughts floating somewhere else. These were his last moments after all. 

Hanzo coughed, pain shooting up his ribcage as he looked over at Jesse in his demonic form, a small smile comes to his face. "You're still lopsided, huhh?" He rasped out, before coughing, more blood coming up and dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. 

A pained expression crossed Jesse's face before he did something over his shoulder more frantically, he couldn't see what Jesse was doing though. "Don't say a word darlin', just save your energy."

"Watch over Genji for me," Hanzo commented with a soft voice. 

"Han, please-"

"He has the worst sense of humor and is in a pain in the ass," Hanzo continued, ignoring McCree's plea. 

"You aren't dying-"

"He's loyal, and Zenyatta helps keep him in like."

"Shut up Hanzo," Jesse yells, it almost looked like a snarl, one of obvious frustration.

 

"I win," Hanzo said with a laugh, and Jesse’s eyes were starting to glaze over as if he was about to cry, his nose becoming a slightly darker tone. 

“I have a request, using that last favor.” Jesse’s claws dug into the dirt, the smell of blood entered the air, Hanzo wasn’t sure if it was his or someone else’s. “I want to enter a contract, you will make this arm for me, and with the same life saving properties of the last one, linking our lives in case one of us dies.” Jesse explains quickly, his bulky hand probably writing the terms in the dirt. 

Hanzo wanted to say save it but he couldn’t deny the wish, and his mouth wouldn’t work. He watched McCree write with a frantic expression, it wasn’t in sand, Hanzo’ wasn’t sure it would work at all. 

“Yes or no Hanzo?” Jesse urged, he could feel the warmth leaving his body and he stared up at Jesse, his lips unable to reply what he wanted.


	13. Chapter 13

The room was dark, Hanzo’s eyes were use to the dark, the only faint glow being from from a line of light just under the window curtain. His brain was foggy and his body felt like he was a bag of cement. He moved slightly, enough to see if his limbs worked, and a twinge of pain ran down his side. He hissed and closed his eyes again, hand moving to grab the wound. 

“Don’t do that, you’ll jostle the wound.” A familiar smooth voice a bit rough, and Hanzo slowly turned his head to look up at Jesse. The other looked like he always did, a small sad smile on the other’s lips. Hanzo’s brain tried to work through the fog and he narrowed his eyes slightly before closing them with a soft sigh. 

“How’s Genji holding up?” Instead of asking the real question he wanted to, he would always worry about his brother first. 

“He’s holding together, Zen is helping him stay calm, but they did go back when you were asleep to find a few chunks of wood.” McCree replied and leaned back in the chair. “Do you want me to get the squirt?” Hanzo debated a moment, tilting his head to the side before nodding. 

“May as well let him have a talk before we have ours.” Hanzo knew he shouldn’t be alive so he needed to know what being life tied to McCree for the rest of his life meant. 

“Sounds good, I’ll let them know you’re awake.” Jesse said and set a warm hand on his shoulder before getting up and walking away. Instantly hanzo found that he missed the warmth of that hand, but he ignored it and instead waited for Genji. 

The door creaked open again and Hanzo looked over to see Genji’s face, creased with worry and he walked over and sat on the chair. 

“Don’t scare me like that,” Genji said and shifted the chair so it was facing the bed more squarely. Hanzo chuckled and nodded. 

“I didn’t intend to get stabbed in the lung,” Hanzo replied and reached out and patted Genji’s arm. “You should stop wrinkling your forehead, you look old.” Something Genji had told him ample times even before the few years he had disappeared. Genji scrunched his face at the comment before smiling slightly. 

“I’m glad you’re doing better,” Genji said and sagged against the chair in relief. “You were asleep for almost four days.” Four days was a really long time.

“How are you holding up Genji?” The question left a wake of silence and Genji thinned his lips before nodding. 

“I’m just glad you didn’t die,” Genji replied with a soft rasp to his voice. The edges of his eyes started to go red. 

“It will be harder to kill me now, considering that i’m now life linked with Jesse with the quick thinking.” Hanzo could remember the rest of his energy had gone to keeping his eyes open and nodding his head, one dip of his chin towards his chest. That was all it took for Jesse to claw his own blood on the contract like how Hanzo’s was leaking onto it. A panicked and rushed sealing. 

“He’s been so worried that he failed,” Genji started, “he could feel how weak your life force was, and how his tried to bring it backup, Maron and Momo complicated it a bit, but you’re here.” It wouldn’t be a walk in the park, it never was. 

“I should let you two talk, I can wait till later. I can’t hug you when you’re like this anyways.” Genji replied and stood up, moving the chair back how it was before leaving. Hanzo closed his eyes and tipped his head back slightly before he heard the door shut. 

“He looked a bit better,” Jesse commented and Hanzo looked over at him. 

“He is more level headed than he use to be, but how are you doing Jesse?” They all knew how Hanzo was doing, but Hanzo was more worried on the toll this all put on everyone else. At the question Jesse paused and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“It just… watching you die reminded me of back home, of a time I was less proud of who I was. When you went into that “i’m going to die” panic was because that is the natural reaction my true eyes bring on, and that is why I wouldn’t look at you for measurements.” Jesse started and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I was terrified I was too late, you mean so much to everyone around you, to Genji, to me, maybe it was a selfish part of myself that wished for you to be around just a bit longer.” McCree sighed and shook his head, he flicked his fingers together. “When i first became a demon, it was because I died so young, pulled into a gang at a young age, and paid for it. Being in that gang pulled me away from my family and I didn’t get to be with them when they died, and hearing they died in my dying hour filled me with an unholy rage.”

Hanzo’s eyes wided a bit as he listened to all this, not daring to interrupt because this was the first time Jesse had told him any of this. “They just left my body there in the sand, they were posted a few miles away, the rest of my gang and the enemies that had captured them, and that night I became what I was. I was blinded by my feelings, trekked those miles with ease in the sand, and murdered them all in cold blood. The rage over them killing my family, for killing me and feeling no remorse. After that I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how to turn back, and I was lost for so long as some sort of monster in the desert.” Jesse smiled slightly, “It wasn’t until someone came around hearing these rumors they kicked my ass and taught me how to reign in such rampant anger, how to look human, and even then they would have to deal with my fits of anger and go head on with me to tire me out or calm down.” 

“I hated being on the cusp of losing it again, you were the first person besides friends of my adopted father to treat me like I wasn’t some monster, even when we were in a contract.”

“Well,” Hanzo could see the head spiral Jesse was headed down saying all of this, his hand resting on the other’s knee. “You’re stuck with me for at least another thirty years, but its probably your life time is mine now isn’t it?” Hanzo inquired but already knew the answer. “If that is the case then there is plenty of time to meet everyone and get to know each other.

“Yep, your life will add into the pool because it was caught just before your death, but it won’t be the same.” Jesse replied and smiled slightly. This all held such a familiar feeling, and a question came back into mind. 

“Why did you leave back then? Why didn’t you say goodbye?” Hanzo asked, turning his head and staring at the other. Jesse’s face fell for a moment and he sat up slightly in his seat. 

“It was so hard to say goodbye, if I tried I know I wouldn’t want to leave just yet.” He replied and it made Hanzo raise his eyebrows. 

“Did you think I would say no? I would have at least brought to the airport to get you a flight. Besides I stayed in Nepal for three or four days after arriving.” The reply was blunt and the cowboy slouched in his chair a bit more. There was a bit of silence, Hanzo hoped that it would sink in to the other what his intentions were. 

“We can’t be continents away anymore, not with our lives bonded together.” Jesse said as if it was a small debate. 

“Pity that,” Hanzo commented, an obvious joke and Jesse grinned and shook his head. “We don’t have to rush into anything, there is no need to tell me everything just yet Jesse, but thank you for telling me something.” Hanzo soothed and smiled at the other. There was a small pause of surprise before Jesse smiled. 

“What are we to you?” He asked, a gentle question, but such a heavy thought. 

“I figure we would never been good friends, too much arguing.” Hanzo lamented with a smile still on his face. 

“And sexual tension,” Jesse added leaning forward. 

“How could I forget about that?” Hanzo tsked as Jesse leaned in and their lips met for a kiss.


End file.
